You may recall seeing this quote by Viktor E. Frankl on the wall at Healing Calm Physical Therapy.
I believe this quote offers us entrance to a deeper understanding.
Pain at first glance is most often something we want to be rid of, the sooner the better thank you and yet; what if we pause long enough to know more of the message within the origin or source of our personal pain. And if we do, might we be able to learn and grow – ultimately to find further lasting value.
Through our combined dedication to understand source and associated relations of pain we have learned more of the path of not only lessening or resolving personal pain sources, but we have also learned of the means to more deeply heal. Thus, offering insight into the frequently asked question, “How did this happen?”
Within the onset of either an initial pain source or a frustrating prompting of a persistent pain pattern we are often offered subtle yet practical guidance through living clues or personal realizations that ultimately will contribute to both identifying cause and revealing the means of resolving our individual presentations of pain. For many, however, such cues are either missed or left unheeded, leaving traditional methods (such as taking prescription medication and participating in basic PT to undergoing surgery or surgeries) appearing insufficient and suffering lingers. In such circumstances we find ourselves at a crossroads often with a stirring imbalance of disappointment, declining hope, and growing confusion. Herein lies the value of rereading the quote above.
“Between stimulus and response there is a space.
In that space is our power to choose our response.
In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”
At the heart of pain, we must remember it exists for a reason no different than a warning light on your car. “Houston (enter your name) we have a problem.”
In our lives however and at the crux of our makeup, we are equally adept in our created being to merely survive (make do and press on) or to bravely choose to tap into our equally fortified yet less familiar sources of resilience and link up with our deepest needs to personally heal. Often a pain that finally gets and keeps our attention has been flashing various warning lights for some time. In a familiar analogy it is that final straw that “breaks the camel’s back.” In such an unfortunate yet very common scenario getting to a resolution will likely require without exception a willingness of sitting with oneself, offering of oneself to a deeper exploration and ultimate understanding of what such pain is guiding us to discover in terms of that ultimate gift of understanding our personal depth of need.
Admittedly, the course of true healing is rarely convenient nor simple and yet for each of us there often exists an unexpected gift (so much bigger than my pain is gone), a unique offering of elegance if you will by choosing to live within our current healing requirements. Such limits are inherently put forth to identify our ultimate path to fully heal and equally to fully live. Such limits can positively be viewed not from a deprived perspective of “why me,” but rather as opportunity ultimately liberating us from which for too long has either impeded us from our own well-being or impaired us from being our true selves.
At Healing Calm Physical Therapy, a person’s hopes of living without pain are provided both an assurance to commit and proven substance to fulfill. This opportunity is made personally achievable through devoted teamwork and again through the brave steps you have or are taking to open yourself up to the greatest of possibilities. While such a path often exposes fears and may even shed some tears it ultimately nurtures us to become who we were always destined to be. I love the common acknowledgement through such work, “I had no idea how bad it was until it was gone.” How about you? How many “straws” (impedances and impairments) are you laboring to carry onward? In this Fall season, it is a good time for us all to follow the example of trees and purge that which no longer fosters growth.
