No Pain

I had the unfortunate experience of having a wisdom tooth removed at the age of 40 years old. Normally, you get those things removed during college while on break. This allows you to veg out on the coach doped up on some type of pain killer eating ice cream and watching the Duck Dynasty marathon. Unfortunately, I did not have that luxury. I have a job, kids and a gold fish to feed. No slacking off for the working man.

One of the big issues with the removal of wisdom teeth is the pain that comes from the surgery. Yes, you get a nice batch of drugs that can knock us out into a comatose state where we wake up in a puddle of our own drool; however, I had to get back to work the next day. I am not saying that I did take my happy pill while recovering; however, I used it in moderation. I tried to use mediation and mindfulness to deal with the pain. I focused on the source of pain and felt the throbbing in the area where the tooth was removed. I visualized the pain and gently released it. I did not resist it. I embraced it gently. The result was I felt less pain even though was focusing on it. Of course, this did not always work; however, many times it did.

By becoming in tune with my body, I was able to mitigate the pain. This can be expanded by physical pain. One could take this one step further and focus on any emotional pain too. Due to all of the distractions and drugs available, we have become disconnected with our body and mind, which results us ignoring the actual pain we feel because we do not want to deal with it. Yet, dealing with the pain in the long run is more beneficial to our minds and body. It may be uncomfortable in the short term, but it allows us to really be awake and connected with our mind and body. It can be our canary in the coal mine. It can pick up things before they get out of hand.

I am not saying to throw away your advil, aleve and tylenol, but sometimes the best medicine is your mind itself. It is really amazing what a little focus can do.

Now, I have to get back to my ice cream and the tenth episode of Breaking Bad Season 5.