The Hidden Benefit of Pain

Good health is an essential component to the experience of well-being. Illness and disease, on the other hand, are by definition a departure from the state of well-being. The experience of being sick, and the accompanying pain we feel, can be debilitating. Illness and pain are states that we want to avoid if at all possible.

However, the experience of falling ill or experiencing great pain, however undesirable, has the hidden benefit of providing us with a fresh perspective, in the form of a renewed appreciation for life, and reacquaints us with what is truly important in our lives.

When we are feeling very ill or become injured and are in great pain, we feel like we will do anything and never take anything for granted provided we can just be well or pain free once again.

The experience of great pain provides us with an unsolicited reference point, or a clear point of comparison if you will, for appreciating just how great it is simply to NOT be in pain.

I have experienced tremendous physical pain a few times in my life. Once I had an inflammation of the stomach cavity that was so intensely painful that I could not eat or even drink anything, including water, without a experiencing a tremendous, constant, pain. This pain lasted for well over a week, during which time I literally could not eat and or sleep for days on end.

Another other experience of intense physical pain was when I was stung in the foot by a poisonous stingray while surfing. This pain was even more intense than the stomach pain, to the point that it was close to being truly unbearable. Fortunately, I was able to receive treatment for this right away, but for about three hours I was in another state that made me Appreciate how great it is to simply NOT be in such pain.

While in these moments of pain, I swore to myself, God, and everyone and everything that I would never again complain about anything in my life if I could just be free of this horrible, unbearable pain.

Eventually I was able to overcome the pain, and for a while thereafter, I was able to enjoy a new, heightened appreciation for how great it is simply to be alive and healthy and NOT in pain.

This same perspective that pain provides is of course also inherent in the experiences of emotional and psychological pain. Any experience of pain, while not intentionally sought out, provides us with this gift of fresh perspective and renewed appreciation.

Of course, as time passes and This Present Moment continues to change and bring us new experiences, our experience of pain becomes ever more distant, and eventually we tend to lose sight of our perspective.

We may lose sight of the perspective brought on by pain, but we still have it as an experience to draw on. Therefore, whenever you are feeling dissatisfied with your life, recall a time when you were in great pain, and then simply appreciate how good it feels to NOT be in that much pain.

The experience of great pain, while never to be intentionally sought out, provides us with the hidden benefit of a new and healthy appreciation for life.