This article is the first in a series of four articles dealing with the different kinds of pain. I’m not talking about dull, sharp, stabbing or aching. And I’m not referring to joint pain, muscle pain, nerve pain and soft tissue pain.
The first type of pain that I’d like to explore with you is I think quite important because it is very timely right now. As a society and community we have gone through a traumatic time these last few years. We are dealing with various epidemics of which the opioid overdose epidemic is quite disturbing. And there have been attempted recent changes to medical assistance in dying (MAID) legislation to make it easier for more people to access.
All of that to say that there are a lot of people who are hurting in a number of ways. The first type of pain that I’d like to address in this series is the pain of not knowing or giving (or receiving) our gifts.
This type of pain could be considered soul-pain. When we feel this type of pain we feel and think that life is over and not worth living. We may believe that we have no gifts to give. We may have no experience of grace or blessing/synchronicity in our lives. And we are not able to accept the circumstance we’re in as a gift.
If we feel this type of pain, it is like the other forms of pain: we carry it in our bodies and in our minds.
When we can be reminded that life is worth living, that we have gifts to give to the world and to receive from the world, this type of pain can be lifted. It ca slide off our backs and hearts like dropping a heavy winter coat to the floor.
And this is where the power of a gentle touch is so effective. And I don’t just mean in the office. The power of a gentle touch, a compassionate look or a non-judgemental word can be enough to remind others that they have gifts that we need them to share with us and all that we really need is to be loved.