Is there a Purpose to Pain? (Day 134)

In a word, 'yes', there is a purpose to pain, when it's approached skilfully. The purpose of pain is to give you the means to relieve and eventually put an end to your suffering.

We've been looking deeply into our habit and historical cache of emotional reactivity, which is how we create our suffering. In answering the title question, we'll start with that famous saying, "pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional".

To choose the 'option' not to suffer (or to suffer less, at first) requires that we learn a different way of relating to our pain. Until we build our capacity to exercise this option – by building our awareness and acceptance muscles – all of our 'inevitable' pains will create suffering, the sum total of which will only grow larger over a lifetime.

PRACTICE

Can you recognise your reactivity and suffering, and then find the pain that lies underneath that?