Feeling low? Here are some drugs.

Don’t like what’s on our minds? How about a joint. A beer. A little bit of porn or gambling.

I mean, really, they’re are so many ways we can run from pain. We can take our pick—put on our sneakers and start running as fast as we can in the opposite direction as the pain.

That is, if what were looking for, is to just stop the pain.

But is that what we’re really looking for?

Or even more relevant, is this running, numbing and drugging working?

Is the world a less painful place, with all this quickly running, trying to get away from pain?

I don’t think so.

Because what if we’re running in the wrong direction? What if running away from the pain is actually the route to more pain?

What if the healing is actually at the center of the pain and all we need to do is stop being scared, stop thinking we’ve made a mistake every time we don’t feel good, done something we perceive as wrong or feel we are “flawed” in some way.

Maybe the healing is right where we’re scared to look.

The healing is when we:

Cry.

Shake.

Yell.

Have memories.

Ask for help.

Talk.

Be quiet.

Be sad.

Be mad.

Regret.

Yell.

And not believe we’re subpar in the process, because these inevitable feelings are what need healing and that is the sole reason they’re happening.

What if we could rejoice in the defrost, celebrate the numbing as a softening that is letting the real, raw truth seep in.

Let me say this more clearly.

Feeling bad is not a sign of doing a bad job.

Feeling bad is just feeling bad. It’s true, it’s real, it’s necessary.

We each need to ask ourselves, what type of world do we want to live in? A world where we try to feel “good” at all costs or a world where we acknowledge the pain, look at it straight in the face and ask it what it wants us to know.

This means when we’re sick we don’t “have to” get better right away. Instead we can ask what healing needs to happen here.

This means when we’re sad we don’t need to be happy right away. Instead we can ask what healing needs to happen here.

This means when we’re angry we don’t need to be peaceful right away. Instead we can ask what healing needs to happen here.

And what if the answer scares us?

If the answer makes us want to run in the other direction and not look back for even a moment, then this is when we know we’re on the right track and have found the healing we’re meant to do.

~ 

Relephant read:

I’m not Going to get “Better” & it’s Okay.

Author: Ruth Lera

Editor: Ashleigh Hitchcock

Photo: flickr