Pain is Your Friend

Master Chief:

"Pain is your friend, your ally...

It will tell you when you are seriously injured.

It will keep you awake and angry.

It will remind you to finish the job and get the hell home.

But you know what is the best thing about pain?" he asked the woman,

"Don't know!" she replied.

Master Chief, "It will let you know that you are not dead yet!"

In the movie, GI Jane a woman was set on to accomplish a perceived unattainable task. She entered into territory not traveled before, to compete with other men in the intense training of the Navy Seals.

This is one of my favorite movies and one of my favorite quotes.

Let's talk about pain. Who here has not seen, felt or experienced pain? No one is immune to it. It cuts your insides apart. You feel like you are on a rollercoaster ride of emotions and it could make you want to scream.

I remember giving birth to my son, my first child...how scary an experience if you never have gone through something like that. I have a low tolerance for physical pain; show me a needle and I am sweating. I went to the Lamaze classes and forced myself to think through how I would deal with the contractions. They should only last duration and then would subside.

I saw this happen and it really helped if I could just brace myself through the pain. I could literally feel the rise in pain around my stomach and then the plateau and then the very welcome awareness that the contraction was near its end.

Then one contraction did not subside it continued on...."It's not going away...it's not going away!" I panicked mumbling my words to my ex-husband. I totally freaked out....

When you know that "this too shall pass" kind of feeling is not there anymore, you think you will go on hurting forever that it won't go away. It is very hard to think straight, look ahead or feel positive about anything.

However, as the words that came out of the Master Chief about pain, it can be your friend. If you are feeling it, you are still alive you are not numb. You can make a change for the better. Feelings of indifference or numbness can be immobilizing. You can't do anything when you are dead.

If I think back to prior experiences where pain was present whether it was a scabbed knee, or a broken heart, I realize that the pain I felt that I thought would never go away back then HAS passed.

Even some of the hardest types of experiences like finding out your baby is born with many medical challenges, you lose a loved one through death or a relationship is no more, the pain is ever present but in time it too will become a distant memory and life must go on.

Like the rock that is beaten down, chiseled to its very core. Does that not hurt? I would think that it does. However, what is the result, a beautiful shiny, bright diamond under all the rough edges that needed to cut away. It is only when these layers are absent that you can see the core, a beautiful diamond.

Life throws each of us hard balls, fastballs and curve balls. Some hit us square in the head, if we would only realize that and see the bigger picture, we could look at life's difficult times with a new attitude and do something productive for others and ourselves.

Just remember as with all things in life, there is a beginning and an end and what we do with what is in between is what matters most.