Suffering

No one enjoys going through pain. We don't choose to go through times of trial but they are inevitable. One thing that is important to understand is that suffering is a necessary aspect of healing. In all reality, if we did not suffer we would not truly appreciate the good times that we experience. We cannot appreciate the brightness of the day if we did not go through the night before.

In the healing process your body is going through changes and rebuilding. For it to be able to do this effectively, your body needs to motivate us to leave that area alone. An example of this is: if you bang your little toe on the edge of a table. If you have ever experienced this, you know that it is a unique type of pain and anguish. Why do you need to have the pain? Well for starters, there has been trauma to the soft tissue as well as trauma to the bones. So in order for the inflammation and rebuilding processes to take place, no more stress and trauma should be placed on the area. In order for your body to convince you to stop putting stress on the little toe, it sends a pain signal to your brain to get you to stop using the area and let it rest. We can be very stubborn so our bodies need to go to drastic methods to get us to listen. Another example is when our body is fighting a foreign invader, like a virus or bacterium. When your immune response is in full fight mode, it requires a lot of energy which causes metabolic drain to your body. So you get a signal to your brain that says you are tired and go lay down. This is so that your body can focus on fighting to invader instead of walking, working, studying, etc... We have to rest when our body tells us to. We may think that we are suffering because our body is not working correctly or that we feel we are broken, but it is the exact opposite, your body is functioning properly if you get the signal of pain or weakness. It is communicating its needs to you.

Although it is not fun, we need to suffer to be able to heal. We can get through it and most of the time if we leave the effected area alone it will heal on its own. I am not talking about emergency situations (if you have a major problem go see the appropriate professional for help), but even in emergencies, what do ER doctors do? They patch you up so that you can heal properly on your own. We can find strength to overcome our suffering, but we need to acknowledge it as a necessary part of life and health.

-Mike E