Accustomed To Pain

I cringed the other day while being treated by my osteopath. She has a way of rubber necking my head, and since the results after the adjustments are fantastical, I submit with nary a complaint: but she notices my wincing without whining when in discomfort. Too much, she might ask... A little, but it is what you have to do to fix me, I am inclined to reply. She is a gentle kind person, and wants to alleviate pain, not inflict it. She goes to tolerable limits, always considerate of what the client is experiencing. 

I am not a verbatim quoter, but the next part of our conversation got me thinking. The osteopath indicated that some people are used to pain: I add here, that when others inflict it, they submit without question. That is the gist of what I got out of our brief exchange. 

Some people are used to pain...

What if some people are used to being offended

What if some people are used to being offensive

What if some people are accustomed to being mistreated

What if some people are accustomed to maltreating 

What if some people are quietly hurt

What if some people loudly injure

What if some people are helplessly lost

What if some people purposefully mislead

What if some people are naively gullible

What if some people are viciously disingenuous

What if...

I have said many a time to a trusting client, drop naiveté on its head, kill it now. Cruelty cruises into overdrive when prey pretend there aren't any enemies roaming and lurking, waiting to pounce. This is why Biblical advise is so astoundingly precise, and needfully so!

Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves (Matthew 10:16)

Try as we might to warn them, there are some people that like to continue to believe that people are naturally good and kind, despite what they have experienced. There is a form of self-deception that serves them in their day to day, that ultimately, will be their demise. And maybe they just don't care?

Soul searching isn't for everyone, and neither is pain for that matter. 

My osteopath is a long time trusted friend. She is the best of the best, and I know that I am literally in good hands, when she puts ribs and shoulders back where they belong. Just because I trust her and her professional abilities, doesn't mean I have to submit without question, to her twisting me this way and that, if it hurts!

I like this lesson, it is helpful on many fronts, and I hope it gets you thinking too: about your own pain, the pain you may inflict on others without noticing, or the injure others cause you that you haven't challenged as of yet? 

We are so intricately and wonderfully connected when we want to be. We can read each others facial expressions, eye emotions, body messages. We can pick up on tone and volume in a voice, and discern when something is amiss or when someone is bursting with joy. We get to do this with one another, what a gift this is. 

If you are accustomed to pain, perhaps you can take a look at it right now, and ask yourself if this is the state you want to continue in, or perhaps, find a way to alleviate your suffering. It isn't easy to change established patterns of thinking, behaving, reacting, but with awareness, you can do it, and alter the trajectory of your life while you are at it! 

Ask these questions:

1 Am I in pain? If yes, is it emotional, physical, psychological, spiritual, or a combination therein?

2 How long has this been going on?

3 When did it start?

4 What do I remember that will help me figure out how and why it began?

5 Do I want this to stop? Do I believe with conscious effort, it can?

6 Who can I talk to that I trust about this?

You don't have to be alone in your self-questioning. You can get help, and it is important that you decide to take charge of your own life, and surround yourself with healthy people that enjoy alleviating pain, rather than inflicting it. 

My prayer for you is that you break free from unsavoury patterns that have you unduly suffering. You can choose change, and in fact, you are the only one in your life that can. 

And the commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also (1 John 4:21)