Living with any physical pain is a challenge.  I fully understand it.  In 2007, I was struck by Thoracic outlet syndrome.  This is a very painful situation.  In this, the muscles, veins and arteries between the coller-bone and the ribs begin to constrict.

Nevertheless, as most of us all do, I was confident that my condition would soon recover.  The pain will go away.  This is often the case with physical illnesses.  The pain starts first and heals in a few days or weeks.  In the meantime, we can eat some medicine to reduce pain or discomfort, there are some remedies.

But if pain takes root and is not cured by anything, then what should we do?  The natural answer would be that we should take measures to deal with it.  That means daily struggle.  Seek precision medicine and effective treatment.  Try one medicine after another.  If nothing works, then on waking up one morning, finally we come to know that we have no weapon left to fight pain.  In such a situation, we reach the extreme end.  We decide that we will ignore our pain, we have to live with it.  Then we try to smile.  Ignores pain.  Kismit or body begins to blame.  But the pain remains, persists.

Fighting pain is exhausting.  This creates tension, which is an obstacle in the way of healing the pain.  Prolonged pain can lead to helplessness and hopelessness over time.  If pain does not improve, then the person finds himself in a dark well.

In such a situation, is there no middle ground, which is somewhat less tiring and less frustrating than constant fighting with pain?  I spent years between the two situations.  Then, I chose the path where I could live with more ease and grace even in the midst of pain.  So tried to change his perception about pain.  I changed my way of feeling pain and reacting to it.  This gave me ways to make my relationship with pain more positive constructive.  Eventually, I experienced some relief.  I changed my relationship with pain in three ways.

 These methods were-

Friendship with pain

It helped me a lot to understand that pain is not an enemy.  It is a sign and message that tells us that the body is trying to heal itself.  The pain is the inner voice, which indicates that there has been some disturbance in the synergy, which is being tried to keep it right.  Instead of treating pain as torture, I began to understand it as the natural communication of my body.  I asked myself, if it was for a positive purpose rather than adverse, then if it happened to bring attention to any part of the body, then I started asking pain what it wanted.  What can I give and do to help my body?  I understood that he was asking me to slow down a bit, both inside and out.  I learned that pain needed to be looked at differently rather than anger or hatred.  When I tried to listen to him, respect him and be kind, my tension and pain started to subside.

Looking for the right methods

I started writing diary about living with pain, which helped me see it differently.  I wrote about my emotional reactions to living with pain.  I wrote about loss and loneliness, shame and frustration.  Then I read my writings aloud about pain and about myself.  This made both of us listen and both of us relaxed.  The pain started to go away.

I then went one step further.  I conveyed my pain to a person who could trust me.  I told him not to give any advice.  Just listen to me with an open heart.  I told him about my grief and fear, loneliness and shame.  I told her such things, which I had never told anyone, because I was trying to keep all these things together.  Without any question or suggestion, you become a witness to pain and believe that if you are in trouble then this thing gives a lot of relief.

Need some time

I also found that pain was asking for time.  Due to my haste, the body did not give the right reaction.  pain had its own timetable.  Giving her time to recover from pain helps to improve our relationship with the body.  Doing so was more conducive to treatment.  After doing this I was more accommodating.  After doing this I breathed more freely.  Everything came to a more relaxed posture and I was able to control my passion for treatment.

I stopped stressing against the pain and stopped relying on the medical procedure.  Surprisingly I started getting rest.  He grew when I expected him to go away immediately.  But when I addressed her with patience and affection, I quickly felt relieved.  Ultimately, I found that this approach is effective in relieving chronic pain.  None of these approaches is a guarantee of complete relief from pain, but they can offer relief, hope and right change almost immediately.  People living with pain for a long time know that even a small remedy for pain relief is no less important than a big celebration for them.

The pain becomes something like a spiritual master over time.  It has taught me how to live more deeply, more easily.  Living with pain helped me understand what is important to me in life.