Professor Pain

I learn from my pain

My daughter slipped off of the counter-top this morning.  It was not the first time nor is it likely to be the last.  She likes to play on it, balance herself like she's an Olympic gymnast, and other exciting but equally dangerous activities for a 4 year old.  She got hurt, but probably not badly enough to stop.

I accept pain as my teacher. What limited wisdom I may have usually comes from the experience gained from making mistakes. Those mistakes usually involve pain. Whether the pain is emotional or physical it signals me I have something I can learn. Unfortunately the lesson is not always obvious. Sometimes the pain is trying to teach me to avoid something but at other times the pain is inviting me to embrace and experience something.

Pain is powerful but it can also be quickly forgotten, numbed, or suppressed in various ways. Unless I embrace pain as a teacher and learn the lessons it wants to teach me I am destined to repeat those same mistakes and re-experience the pain. During my time in the classroom I have learned that you can't teach anybody something that they don't want to learn. No matter how powerful and insistent pain may call out to me it is in vain and can not teach me anything until I am willing to experience it and learn.