LOGO

Pain is a tool that is meant to protect us from further injury when we come across current situations that remind us of previous experiences.

 

Some of you may see this and say “What? I thought you get pain from only one injury.” Actually, the answer is both yes and no.  The yes part is a no-brainer and it can be the only reason. The no part has to do with the circumstance as we experience it on the psyche level that reminds us of what we have felt, heard, seen, touched, smelled and tasted from an unanticipated event from similar past circumstances. It can be one or more of these senses that can be activated depending how we perceive it both unconsciously and consciously.  It is embedded since the dawn of creation and is necessary for our optimal survival.  

 

At times we may not like the outcome of our bodily reaction even when it doesn’t make sense. That is only on the mind level, believing that it has to make sense.  Unconsciously, the psyche unlike the mind just senses, period.  Putting it into “mindful terms,” it is ‘better safe than sorry’ mode. A more descriptive example is that in an unanticipated traumatic event, our spleen can have a drop in platelets because it had blood transfusion because it can’t tell the difference whether it is blood-letting or receiving blood.  However, our mind can tell the difference but it is not the cause of disease. In case if you are wondering, negative thinking can lower our vitality and create bad habits, but it is not the cause of disease.  

 

There was a case that fit the above description.  He was snowboarding and injured himself in the right shoulder and pulled his left lower abdomen in attempt to guard himself from further injury. He has snowboarded before many times but this time it was a mixture of things similar and new.  

 

Lets start on the mind level where expectations are placed on the memory of the injury to the shoulder. It is logical that if you bump your shoulder hard enough and in a wrong way, pain and bruising of the shoulder area is logical to expect. 

 

Here comes the unexpected or having no expectations that are below the surface of our awareness of mind level. The psyche picked up in split-second relating millions of bits of information that is pertinent to survival. Any previous memories stored in the subconscious of related physical or mental or emotional association to the latest event re-triggers the protective response.  In the acute phase, bruising of shoulder could result in increase in platelets count local to the injury relative to the severity to the injury. Bones in the joint decalcify at the time of impact and may indicate fracture or avulsion of connective tissue, etc.  All the while, the psyche may process another layer of tracks necessary for the next time it may happen. 

As I explained this phenomenon to him, he was beginning as he slips under his skin, the soul of the psyche, make associations to past events and saw clearly the past events that added more pain to his shoulder injury.  

 

Prior to the snowboarding accident, his friend who was inconsiderate of his place of residence had sex with a woman he briefly met through an on-line dating site.  It was unforthcoming and he felt dismissed and something was not right about this.  He learned that this weakened his shoulder joint.  All it took was a set-up of an accident to reveal more of a picture what was really going on under his skin.  He even admits he had these kinds of physical encounters all the time with all parts of his body when he snowboards.  He was marveled by the fact that by slipping under his skin, I sensed, for example, the top part of his shoulder and knew his intentions to make this place a better place. With the people he knew that didn’t consider his place or if they were even aware how he was abruptly cut off from his place which gave him the feeling of something is not right or being dismissed which affected his upper back, further hindering his recovery from the snowboard accident. He admitted how frustrated he felt after spending so much time in helping them spiritually and mentally in a project he was involved in. 

 

 He said, “God!  Why is this happening?  Is this what my mortality on this earth is about? I don’t know if I can shoulder the burden when people don’t show or have consideration of my needs?”  I pointed out “shoulder the burden” indeed. I guided him in making other associations of similar circumstances one by one; he felt releasing the pain of his shoulder and mobility improved greatly as he related to the tracks that were similar in the past. 

 

I explain as I processed his conflicts in feeling sharply separated that related to covering of the bone, devalued by them being inconsiderate on bone mass itself and the kidney connection that related to isolation from his friends.  He saw that there is more that meets the eye in a simple snowboarding accident.

 

 I did add a psychological component to this biological conflict that further strengthened his resolve. I reminded him, you can choose to empower yourself or give power away to the irresponsible or immature behavior of others.