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PAIN AS YOUR PARTNER
Part 2

CHANGING YOUR PAIN PARADIGM

Matthew Anderson, D.Min.

Paradigm is a popular word used frequently today to describe "that model from which we see our lives and/or reality". In this sense, it means context. Context is defined as something that "defines the meaning or a particular expression or experience" such as pain. We all have a context for our physical pain. This gives it meaning and ultimately directs all our decisions for dealing with it.

The most popular paradigm/context for physical pain is: Physical pain has a physical source. Find it. Deal with it and the pain will go away. Physical pain has no other source other than physical. This is the attitude held by most allopathic doctors (modern Western medicine) and most people who see them as patients.

Others, myself included, have come to believe that human beings are more than just physical bodies and that simply reducing our physical pain to a physical source is both reductionistic and ignorant (in the sense of ignoring useful and often obvious facts).

The obvious truth about us humans is that we are far more than physical and that our emotions, our thoughts and our spirituality all interact in constant and meaningful ways with our bodies. This truth has great implications for those of us who have chronic physical pain (of any kind) because it can open the doors to potential sources of pain relief and even healing. Are there guarantees that this expanded view of dealing with pain will always work? No. But allopathic medicine cannot make guarantees either.

The new paradigm/context for dealing with physical pain, therefore, is this: Physical pain can often be related in some significant way to our emotions, our thinking and/or our spirituality. If we explore this connection in depth, we can sometimes find relief and even healing.

My question to you is this: What is your pain paradigm/context? How do you "see" your pain? Are you still a devotee of allopathic medicine's simplistic reduction of pain to physical causes? If so, you will have a very difficult time exploring new paths to healing.

However, if you are willing to do what we like to call a "willing suspension of your disbelief", you may find that help is closer than you thought.

Here is a brief but extremely interesting story from a book by a surgeon, DR. Allan Hamilton (THE SCAPEL AND THE SOUL).

Dr. Hamilton became deeply invested in helping a young boy named Alfred who had an incurable brain tumor. When all surgical attempts at healing fail and Alfred dies, Dr. Hamilton feels terrible guilt. The day after the funeral he develops agonizing and immobilizing back pain.

One of Dr. Hamilton's graduate students then makes a suggestion that most followers of the old pain paradigm would find outrageous. He introduces Hamilton to his grandfather who is a Navajo medicine man (shaman). The shaman explores the situation and tells Hamilton that the spirit of the young boy is kicking him in the back and telling him to "let him go". This provokes a great emotional response in the doctor and the pain disappears.

Is this experience real? Well, the pain went away. That is a pretty convincing argument. Can pain disappear this quickly using my technique for dialoging with your pain (see article Part 1 - Pain as Your partner). Sometimes I have seen this occur.....but usually it requires more than one session. Why?

My experience is that most of us still have quite a bit of disbelief in the real and meaningful relationship between our physical bodies and our emotions, thoughts and spirituality. This disbelief slows us down and creates blocks that we have to negotiate. And in many cases the lessons are complex and require more exploration. But with work and practice we can make tremendous progress in finding the lessons that our pain brings us and ultimately relief from its discomfort.

You may look into your own pain and find something entirely different from what the shaman discovered. But what you discover could be equally as powerful in its effects on your life and your discomfort. The issue is whether you want to live under the very limited paradigm/context of what we now call scientism (only the physical is real) or if you are ready to explore the frontiers of the wonderful complexities of being fully human.

I am convinced that all pain has lessons and ultimately gifts, once the lessons are learned and applied. I have learned much from exploring my own physical (and emotional) pain and I am certain that you can also if you are willing to trust your imagination and do the inner work. If you have chronic physical pain I hope you will give this process a chance.

For my free article HOW TO TALK WITH YOUR PAIN, please email me at DrA@DrAusa.com.