It’s all about joy!

The other day, I was contemplating a pain in my neck that I’ve had for nearly two weeks. It’s a stubborn pain that’s triggered when I try to turn my head all the way to one side, or tip it just so to the other. At night it’s usually the worst, and for a few days, it was waking me up any time I rolled my head the wrong way.

I get regular massages, so I’ve been relying on my massage therapist to work on the muscles in and around my neck until the pain fades away for good. I’m also a believer that physical ailments result from deep held beliefs that need a visible outlet (our body). So part of me thinks if I can just uncover whatever beliefs I’m holding onto right now in regard to this particular phase of my life, the pain will go away and I’ll be ok.

The other day, though, for the first time, I thought about taking Advil before I went to bed to ensure a good night’s sleep.

Then I immediately decided against it because it struck me that the pain in my neck is a mode of self-protection. Clearly there’s something out of whack with my muscles, ligaments, tendons, what-have-you, and when I turn my head a certain way, I aggravate the condition. The pain I feel stops me from continuing to move in a way that could cause more damage. Rather than mask that pain with Advil and remove my body’s self-defense, I decided to take my chances and go without.

All of this made me think about pain in a more general sense, and how truly, pain is the greatest form of self-protection we have. Emotional pain, for example, is a sign that we’re in a place at odds with our highest good. Granted, there are times when the pain we feel is caused by a circumstance beyond our control. Our job in those situations is to bow to the pain, let it wash over us and when we’re ready, let it carry us to a higher ground. Such instances of pain precipitate periods of growth and learning, as we slowly adjust to new circumstances where the pain becomes less and less, and we become stronger.

Other times, when we’re experiencing emotional pain, it is caused by situations we do have control over. One example might be troubled relationships. In those cases, the pain we’re feeling is still trying to protect us. It’s serving as a warning sign that where we are, or what we’re doing, is not in our highest good. It asks us to make a change; to steer ourselves onto a better path. We know we’ve begun accomplishing this when the pain begins to retreat. We know we’ve been completely successful when the pain does not return.

Rather than rejecting pain, or even trying to mask it - which is something I think most of us do - by recognizing that it’s a part of us that serves our highest good, we may learn to find joy in it.

This is certainly a new concept that I’ve only recently began embracing. However, the more I wrap my mind and heart around it, the more I’m able to experience greater joy in life more of the time.