Thursday, August 24, 2000

From Pain to Promise
by Dean F. Mapa

Can life's pains be avoided? Or is that a rhetorical question, simply because there is a silently resounding "No!".

No matter how much we have or lack, how much we've lived or haven't, how many friends, families or foes -- pain comes; and quite often it comes when we least expect it. No, I'm not talking about physical pain that comes from scratches, slips and tumbles. But the pain that cuts deep to the core of our being; the hurt that keeps us dazed all day; the throbbing that moved the Psalmist to poignantly express, "My tears have been my pillow all night long!"

Yes, inner pain is inevitable, but we need not succumb to it and be overwhelmed by its debilitating effect on our souls. It can actually hold promise for renewed hope. Give thought to the following:

• Pain is a vital sign that we are humans. We feel, therefore we are. To deaden ourselves to inner pain is to desensitize us from the rest of humanity. This is how Hitlers and Idi Amins are born. I'm glad I'm just Dean, able to understand the human being across the room because she goes through pain just like me.
  
• Pain makes our heart fertile for compassion or hard as a rock to withstand intimacy. Your choice. We can be vulnerable yet real and sincere, or aloof and unreachable. The world becomes a better place because of the former, not the latter, believe it or not.
  
• Pain can be a bridge to the divine. It is a cause for self-reflection and to seek the strength we never knew exists within us. It is a motivation to seek a higher self, a more refined you, a dream you've put off for so long, the list is long and limitless. Pain should not be a reason to dive into the mud, but to reach for the stars!
  

When pained, by all means cry, bang the walls, pour your soul out. Feel the pain and ride it out. Then hold it up for you to see. Let it be a reflection of better things to come, not a shattered image of the past. Then and only then will we realize that pain, just like a thorn on a rose's stem, is merely a reminder of how beautiful life can really be.

About the Author: Dean F. Mapa is a writer, motivational speaker and success coach. He manages, among other sites, Raven's Rendezvous, a meeting place for singles at beeznet.webjump.com Subscribe to his free weekly inspiarational e-zine by sending a blank e-mail to subscribe@be-inspired.org.