How do you handle physical and emotional pain?
Do you take care of it in the same way?
Do you avoid the emotion hoping it heals on its own?
Take a few minutes to think back to times in your life when you experienced physical pain and emotional pain. During those times, did you address both physical and emotional pain in the same manner or did your method vary between them? I am willing to bet you took a completely different approach for each.
This quote by Frederick Dodson expresses the idea that our emotions do not cause pain. Rather, it is avoidance of those emotions, which causes the pain.
Do you agree with that?
When it comes to physical pain, what do we tend to do? We take care of it immediately. We address that physical pain quickly in order to remedy it as fast as possible. However, when it comes to our emotions, we do not always address them right away. We let them linger. We bury them deep down inside instead of bringing them to the surface.
One day, when I was younger, my cousin and I were playing, running back and forth from inside and outside of the house. It is important to note that the door leading to his backyard was glass. As we were running around, having fun, living carefree, as most kids at that age do, I was charging full steam ahead towards the back door to get back inside his house.
As I went for the door handle, my hand slipped, and I put my arm right through the glass.
The glass shattered, slicing my arm, creating a big gash with blood shooting off in every direction. My parents immediately ran to my help while my aunt called 911 for an ambulance to arrive as soon as possible.
Long story short, I was ok. I do have a scar on my arm in memory of where that cut once was. However, immediate action took place in order to tend to the wound, avert any additional negative effects, and start the healing process.
That example shows how when facing physical ailment, we do not hesitate. We give our prompt attention to it.
Our reaction to an emotion, on the other hand, is completely different.
Any emotion, whether anger, sadness, frustration, resent, the list goes on and on, we leave alone. We do not address it right away, we turn away and avoid, hoping that it disappears.
We bury it, and, in doing so, that emotion grows. It festers, sometimes for days and other times, for years.
We learn to cope with that intensifying pain even though it hurts because we think it is easier to do that than to address is and take care of it.
If we treated emotional pain in a similar manner to physical, think of how better off we would be.
All of those years spent carrying around hurt, sorrow, anger, or resentment could begin to heal if we took some time to give attention to them as opposed to running away from them.
Think about that next time you experience a situation that causes some unwanted negative emotions. Your first reaction may be to bury them but flip the switch and embrace them. Give them the attention they deserve.
Now it’s your turn.
How does this quote inspire you?
Tell me about a situation when experienced physical pain and a situation when you experienced emotional pain. How did you handle each? Is that emotional pain still unhealed? If so, what needs to happen in order to begin that healing process?
Contact me or share your thoughts below in the Comments section.
Let’s get the discussion going.
Remember, you are not alone on this journey. Together we can become stronger individuals.
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