Pain is real, heart-wrenching and a massive burden to carry. Indeed, if those around us could see the pain and grief that we carry inside they would weep right along with us. Yet, dwelling on our pain puts it on the highest pedestal of our lives. It doesn’t deserve the prominence. Living with the burden of daily emotional pain buries our hopes.
Relief is available; remember these three reasons why it’s OK to set down your pain once and for all:
1. You owe it to your body.
Researchers found that emotional pain can hurt more than physical pain. Since we can re-live emotional pain, its effects cut us to our core. Your pain is hurting your productivity, thought process and creativity as your synapsis are continually flooded with negative hormones. Since new experiences cause physiological changes in the brain itself, set your pain down and begin the healing.
2. Don’t let the grief define you.
The pain you feel often originates from past trauma. From the death of a close loved one, to never getting a chance to speak words you needed to say, to memories of childhood abuse--all of these experiences have battered your soul.
Doctors found that 15% of people going through emotional pain have severely negative reactions as they allow the sadness to take hold. Yet, we cannot let this grief define us. Rebuild who you were before this pain was your constant companion and bring that self back from the depths.
3. There are over 40 meaningful ways to release it.
Setting down the pain from your past will never be easy, but can be worked on step by step, hour by hour. These 40 ways to let go and feel less pain are a solid place to start. Instead of replaying the traumatic event in our mind, for example, we can try number 6, “Make a list of your accomplishments, even the small ones, and add to it daily.” Or we can start to release our pain with number 9, “Focus all of your energy on something you can actually control” like finally getting into that book you wanted to read or being a more peaceful parent or engaged sibling.
Let’s stop watering the things that only bring depletion to our lives and grow those that exhilarate instead. As we deliberately set down the pain that has saddled us for far too long, we free our arms to embrace the blessings hidden all around.
T.D. Jakes is a charismatic leader, visionary, provocative thinking, entrepreneur and compassion humanitarian with a voice that has reverberated from the world's most prominent stages. His look at life comes from the perspective of a father, a student, a pastor and a friend. His daytime talk show will be premiering this fall across the nation.
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