Not just a motivation for growth
“We learn that pain can be a motivating factor in recovery.”
Basic Text p.29
“Pain-who needs it!” we think whenever we’re in it. We see no good purpose for
pain. It seems to be a pointless exercise in suffering. If someone happens to mention
spiritual growth to us while we’re in pain, we most likely snort in disgust and walk
away, thinking we’ve never encountered a more insensitive person. But what if
human beings didn’t feel pain-either physical or emotional? Sound like an ideal
world? Not really. If we weren’t capable of feeling physical pain, we wouldn’t know
when to blink foreign particles out of our eyes; we wouldn’t know when to stop
exercising; we wouldn’t even know when to roll over in our sleep. We would simply
abuse ourselves for lack of a natural warning system. The same holds true for
emotional pain. How would we have known that our lives had become unmanageable
if we hadn’t been in pain? Just like physical pain, emotional pain lets us know when
to stop doing something that hurts. But pain is not only a motivating factor.
Emotional pain provides a basis for comparison when we are joyful. We couldn’t
appreciate joy without knowing pain.
Just for today: I will accept pain as a necessary part of life. I know that to whatever
level I can feel pain, I can also feel joy.