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How I Learned To Listen To What My Pain Was Telling Me
Don’t avoid learning from one of life’s best teachers
Basic human nature says that, as a species, we will avoid pain and move towards pleasure.
No matter how twisted the action seems, there is a payoff for that person.
It is in our nature to learn what works and to exploit it to its fullest advantage (at least, our advantage).
The human psyche wants what it wants and will go through ingenuous lengths to get them.
In that hedonistic quest, is it easy to forget that pain points are also part of the same coin.
Too often, in a haste to avoid pain, hurt is shoved under the carpet or locked away in the attic. After all, you don’t have to acknowledge what you don’t remember.
The thing is, those pain points will not shut up. Ask any trauma survivor. They have structured their lives in such a way that they may not totally remember what prompted a behavior.
A close friend did not like to close the bathroom door.
He thought he was claustrophobic and dismissed his habit as one of his quirks.
Almost 50 years later, in a therapy session, he remembered that most of his abuse happened in the bathroom.
