Pain as the Message

I received this quote via email this morning.

"Pain (any pain--emotional, physical, mental) has a message. The information it has about our life can be remarkably specific, but it usually falls into one of two categories: We would be more alive if we did more of this and life would be more lovely if we did less of that. Once we get the pain's message, and follow its advice, the pain goes away."-- Peter McWilliams

And I thought it profound. Then I thought who the hell is Peter McWilliams? So I googled him. (Did you know that Google is now a verb?) Peter McWilliams was a self-help writer who died at 50 from AIDS and Cancer. (Guess he couldn’t help himself…in more ways than one. Yes, I know. God is going to strike me dead for being so sarcastic, but if s/he hasn’t done it already, I might as well just keep going.) McWilliams also became known as an outspoken medical cannibis activist. (Now we’re talkin’.)

But the point I’m belaboring to make is that pain is a clue that something is wrong. And I’m not just talking about where it hurts. I’m talking on a macro level. For instance, if you drink, like I do, and are hung over, like I am, the pain you feel is from dehydration. But the fact that drinking causes pain, means there’s something unhealthy going on that makes you self inflict this pain in the first place. That is the pain you have to look at; the pain from the source, not the symptom. So as I sit here drinking bottle after bottle of water, my rehydrating-electrolyte-replenishing-miracle-cure Pedialyte having failed me today, I’m pondering why I drink in the first place.

Oh yeah, now I remember, I live with three men – of varying ages – in my house. That’s right, I’m marred with two kids. Need I say more?