Being Present With Pain

Pain is inevitable; suffering is optional.

- Linda Bloom

Regardless of what we do, life will at some point, bring us losses, disappointments, and instances of physical and emotional pain. Pain is the experience of something that creates physical, mental or emotional distress. It’s the body’s way of bringing awareness to something that needs our attention. Pain, either physical or emotional, is the body’s way to inform us that we need to attend to something.

Although pain isn’t an emotion, there are emotions that are painful to experience. Grief, anxiety, guilt, shame, and rage are all examples. Emotions are energy in motion in the body. Some are more difficult to experience than others and we identify them as being “negative,” but those are simply labels that describe our assessment of those sensations. Suffering is what we experience when there is prolonged resistance to painful experiences. It is often during our efforts to avoid, deny, or resist that which is inevitable, that we create suffering.