Pain! A word that when you think about it, it can already make you feel squeamish. There are other words that do the same thing like needle, and cut. These are called painted words. For the most part nobody likes to feel, or be in pain. Unfortunately, it will happen to us at some point in time or another. We will feel pain, and we are not able to avoid it, but what if we could control it? You already know that a pain killer is the easiest way to eliminate pain from the body chemically, but what if you can’t take medications? What if it doesn’t work as well as you’d like it to, or what if your body doesn’t like them? One more, what if pain medication is not accessible, available at the time you need it? Is there anything else you can do?
Pain is actually a good thing when you think about it.
We don’t think about the benefits of pain because we don’t like it, and it’s no fun in any way, but think of it this way, how will you know when to take your hand off the fire if not for pain? How would you know an insect bit you if not for pain? How would you know there’s something wrong with your body if pain weren’t present? Pain is a necessity, but by no means welcome especially prolonged pain.
How can you improve your pain levels with your mind?
There’s no doubt that when you have pain medication available this is the quickest, and for most best option to control any levels of pain, but what if you’re allergic, or don’t have them readily available? Here are some suggestions and proven techniques.
Disown it
Most people own their pain and difficulty. They affirm “my pain,” “my hurt.” If you own it you are more likely to become it, and it can stick around for longer. You also prevent yourself from seeing other possibilities to remove yourself from pain because that pain is yours.
Call it something else
For most, the word PAIN is a trigger for more pain. Let’s fix that because this is what is called a “painted word.” It causes more of what we don’t want. Instead use the word “discomfort.” We’ve been using the other word up to this point in this article because I hadn’t yet explained this part, but from here on outward we’re going to use the word discomfort. The word discomfort is an easier word to deal with than the other one. In this way, we tell our brains that what is going on is not as severe. Please don’t misunderstand me and think that I’m trying to downplay whatever difficulty you may be going through (if you are). I’m only giving you a tool to help minimize, and possibly help you deal with that difficulty better.
Focus away from the problem
When small children get hurt, or fall down they usually look around to establish a reaction from parents or family members. If someone shows them fear, or wide eyes they become scared and cry. If adults around them don’t take the fall too seriously they’re fine for the most part, and sometimes laugh. This shows us the amazing ability we have to focus away from the discomfort. We have an inborn gift to selectively feel and focus away from what’s happening in our bodies. We can do the same thing when it comes to discomfort because I’m you’re aware that the more you focus on discomfort the more uncomfortable it is. There are many meditative techniques that show you how to shift your awareness to different parts of your body, or even outside your body to minimize or eliminate discomfort. I teach this more in depth in a course that I give called The Painless Childbirth Course. It has worked wonders not just for controlling discomfort for birthing women, but for relaxation as well. Here’s a link to the course in case it can come in handy for you, or someone else you know: Click here to learn more.
You’ll just have to experiment with this for yourself, but there is a lot you can do with your mind to control or eliminate discomfort. In fact, there was a Scottish surgeon named James Esdaile who used hypnotic techniques for surgery before ether and other anesthetics were available. His methods were hypnotically archaic, but the results were truly astounding nonetheless. To give an example, Dr. Esdaile could perform an amputation with no anesthesia whatsoever with the sole use of hypnotic techniques. Patients were reported to have felt minimal if no pain, and recuperation time was actually faster than traditional methods. There’s no use for those methods in such extreme cases today, but I’m sure you will agree that those methods could come in handy someday. Hopefully you’ll never have to find out.
