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Being in the Moment: How is this possible for chronic pain sufferers?
Nirvana
aka BUBBA ` ` South Carolina, USA Veteran
Out Of Curiosity, I ask:
For those Buddhists who suffer from pain chronically, how do You ever manage to maintain the ability to "be in the moment?"
It seems to me that I'd be always trying to flee from it.
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For those Buddhists who suffer from pain chronically, how do You ever manage to maintain the ability to "be in the moment?"
It seems to me that I'd be always trying to flee from it.
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Comments
Palzang
One of the greatest things it does for me is confront my tendency to avoid pain and unpleasantness. There have been so many times when I've wanted to escape, withdraw myself from the challenge. I have days when I'm so tired I feel that I just can't drag this painful body out of bed. But like everything else, those thoughts pass and they do so especially quickly when I'm reminded just how fortunate I actually am. I've found gratitude to be the antidote to most of my suffering.
And if I were given the opportunity to change anything in the past, avoiding the cause of my pain and disability wouldn't be it. I'd definitely change the way I treated others at times, though.
Exactly!! When something happens to aggravate my injury and my back and legs go into spasm no amount of pain killers can relieve the pain so I lie very quietly in my bed with my door closed and I block everything else out and concentrate solely on the pain, just the pain. And it starts to transform into something else. It's really amazing. I taught myself to do this when I was in high school and had bad menstrual cramps but it works for all physical pain. When it starts to transform it reminds me of when you say a word, any word, over and over and over and it starts to lose its meaning, it even starts to sound like a ridiculous sound we make with our mouths. When the pain starts to change, sometimes quickly and sometimes not so quickly, it turns sort of neutral and it doesn't actually "hurt" anymore. Sometimes I can even make it feel pleasant. I love playing with my mind. This little practice is what I mean when I say "single pointed concentration".
But I find it much more challenging to deal with the pain when I have to go about my daily life and deal with other things while I'm in pain. I find it especially challenging to be pleasant to my poor parents when I'm in pain. But I'm working on it.
Non-avoidance is the key though, as you said, Palzang. Just being with it, relaxing into it, letting it be whatever it is and not getting my mind all twisted into it and hung up on it. Pain is a great teacher.
I have fibromyalgia which basically means chronic pain and fatigue for me every day all day (plus generalized hypersensitivity to stimuli - which is what actually causes the pain and fatigue and countless other bothers). And while I know it is important to be aware of the pain as a message from my body, it shouts too loud about the smallest things. Moment to moment, though, is not the hardest part. The hard part is knowing that I will likely be this way for a very long time and maybe my entire life, and knowing that it does affect what sort of things I can reasonably do. In many ways, staying in the moment, even with the pain, means less suffering.
But another important thing to remember is that there are other things to focus on while in the moment. For instance, I might be hurting but I can still enjoy even the simplest pleasures of life like the feel of hot water down my back in the shower, the feel of the brushes as I apply makeup, the brightness of the colors around me, the sound of the birds chirping, the warmth of my husband's hand, etc. etc. etc. There are a million little things - mundane things - that happen everyday that I can enjoy.
That, dear Brigid, sounds a lot like the catholic idea of penance.
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I know exactly what you mean. Often if I feel pain - pain that I have every day, a headache, a papercut, a blister - it doesn't matter what - I always ask myself, what is pain? And the answer is that really, it's nothing. It's a bunch of nerves telling your brain stuff. It's intangible, you can't hear it or see it or smell it. So, why are we so bothered about it? In asking myself these questions, I not only begin to diminish the pain, and - as Brigid said - change it, but also to ignore it as I pursue the answers to the questions.