Listen to your body. For it is said, ‘that if you do not go within, you go without’.

Be silent, and in the silence learn to love your pain.

Lose the anger, the frustration, by understanding that you can ‘create’ your feelings. That is to say, about ‘how you perceive your pain’.

Pain is a natural response to something, but the joy is knowing that how you respond to your pain is ‘subjective’. You can choose how you wish to see your pain. That is to say - Do you choose to ‘suffer’ over your pain?

Have you ever had toothache, particularly as a child, where the more one thought about it, the worse it became? Worry can do this, because ‘what you think about is what you create’. By thinking about how painful it is the more attention you give to your pain, and the worse your body winds itself up to respond to that attention.

It is a vicious circle. But one that can be broken, by saying clearly to yourself -

‘I love my pain, I acknowledge my love for my pain’.

Knowing that pain is a natural response, built into our system, and understanding that it is only doing it's job well -

But by loving your pain you are saying to your body - ‘ It's OK, I can deal with this, because I love my whole body, and who I am - And Who I Am chooses to take on board the pain as Love and drop the suffering - because I choose NOT to give it attention’.

Two things you can try - Next time you have an itch on your nose or face, just stop a minute - and in your thoughts, speak to the itch, recognize it, smile to yourself, and then ignore it. Just that, and see how quickly the itchy feeling disappears.

Or, perhaps when you next get stung by a nettle stem - Don't go and immediately scratch it. Just stop. Stop thinking about it. Go and do something purposeful to take your mind off the sting, and you will notice later that you have probably forgotten all about it.

Now all this sounds simple, and you may well be saying - ‘ Hang on a minute I'm talking about ‘serious’ pain, 8 on the Richter scale, intensity of pain, of the sort that can drive one mad, because it won't go away, ever, type of pain. You have no idea what my pain is like !’

Sound familiar? - Well let's look at those words, and see if a way can be found to deconstruct those ‘negative’ thoughts, which after all must be supporting the intensity and expected repetition of that pain.

Yes, that's it, for it is so easy to programme ourselves into expecting the worst, and in a very real sense ‘creating it in our minds’ to the degree where repetition makes it worse still.

So what is needed is to view it like a computer software fault, where a little reprogramming is necessary, reprogramming of the mind, and that can only be done with love. Love for yourself, every bit of you, even those parts of you that might have gone.

I was fortunate to have had guidance and support when it mattered, and for me meditation works wonders. Every day I reprogram myself in silent thoughts and peace to love my pain.

Can you I wonder, try to visualize your pain? Give it a representation of your own choosing. Something familiar which you can then ‘deal’ with. Like a sponge and ‘nasty stuff’ (your pain), then just see yourself wiping up this ‘stuff’ and metaphorically throwing it away, out of sight, out of mind. Then perhaps you can imagine a special ‘tap’ that only turns ‘one way’, with a sign that says pain ‘off’ when the lever is turned to the right. Then you feel your pain subsiding. You feel your pain ‘cleansed’ by the cleaning up action of the sponge.

Get the idea? So First - You say ‘OK I'll try it’. Then you have found the road.

Second - You create a system quietly all on your own with love. It can be fun. Just imagine!

Find the place where you can go inside yourself, without disturbance from the outside world, for a few minutes each day. Preferably early in the morning and then at night before you close your eyes.

Nobody need know, because you are doing this for your Self.

Now you are moving down the road.

Of course, in time everybody that is close to you will notice the change, and they will see that you have decided that you can handle your pain. That you are willing to take it on board as a friend, maybe for life; and that you are learning to deal with it with love. And with love of yourself comes back the love of others. And then you can pick yourself up and move on further down the road, ‘knowing’ that you have control over your body with your mind and with your spirit.

Please acknowledge that there will be times when it looks difficult, but stay focussed on the firm idea that this actually works for many people, I know. And if it works for me let it work for you.

All it takes is a ‘belief’. A belief in yourself today, here, now. This moment can be the wonderful change in the way you feel about yourself for the rest of your life.

The secret is to be in the Moment of Now. Forget yesterday and your history of troubles and difficulties. They are gone - left behind you. Today - Now, is all there is and all that matters. So be ‘in the moment of now’ to control your pain, with love. Just say to yourself - ‘I love my pain, I love my whole body, I love Me’. And against ‘Love’, it's opposite ‘Fear’ has no chance. For it is through Fear that you have created more suffering.

In my experience of the ‘cycle of life’ we have our ups and downs, but if you remember and acknowledge that you ‘know’ by perseverance through those harder times that better times will lie ahead of you. And once you see this is so, and your beliefs become stronger about the success of your efforts, you really will see a dramatic change in pain levels. Feed on these positive thoughts - deny the negative ones.

If you catch yourself having negative thoughts or words. Stop. Then imagine they have been scrunched up into a paper ball, and just throw them away.

Don't talk about your pain to others if you can help it, unless it is in a positive statement. Because anything negative said will draw attention to itself and contact your ‘pain centre’, and like the nettle sting, it will be asked to be scratched. And of course scratching makes it worse doesn't it?

Is there something that you are passionate about, or can become passionate about? Because, for me, I find my interests once focussed upon intently, allow my mind to switch off to recognition of the pain, and it is possible for that while, not to be aware. It allows you to be ‘out of your mind’, as it were, think of it like a little holiday, a respite. Find something passionate to do that won't aggravate your pain and try it for yourself, today.

Later on as you progress, try to become aware of your facial expressions and notice if you tend to grimace over your pain. If so, and I know I do, try to do something different today. Now make it ‘consciously’ different from what you did yesterday ‘subconsciously’. Try a smile, make a funny sound, think of a good joke, an amusing event in your life. Then see if you can put that picture of your smile and ‘whatever else you might choose’ that works, and plant that picture in your mind together with your pain image.

Think of it like a doorbell, when you feel like the pain is coming on (press the bell), acknowledge it( open this door of opportunity) with the ‘thing of your choice’ and then just smile to yourself. And that will ‘halt the cycle of repetition’ in the way you unconsciously have allowed your pain to increase in the past.

Now you are in control. Now you have the tools to develop the skills and your willpower, to be able to live peacefully with your pain, as a friend, and maybe with love even master your pain, so that it disappears altogether.

Wouldn't that be something. For there is always Hope!

Anthony B Hodge 2006.

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(These notes are for guidance purposes only. Always refer to your doctor and please do not stop taking any prescribed medicines. Feel free to pass this message onto others. It can be copied on 2 x A4 sheets. More personal details can be found at - (http://www.hodgeart.com) a non profit exhibition site).