All living things want to avoid pain at all costs. There is no way out of dying, but there is a way out of living in constant pain.

Throughout the years, humans deal with pain in many interesting ways because we have so much non-harnessed free will. We hurt others to transfer our pain to somebody else. We help other people to mask our own pain. We go through the motions and get the least amount of pain life can offer, but we also get the least amount of pleasure. We deny we're in pain, and we pretend our pain is helping us.

In short, pain is a natural cycle that cannot be broken. We need pain to define what is not pain. We can't avoid all pain. Inflicting, soul-tearing pain will hit us in some way or another at some point in our lives. However, when we have so much pain that it leaves bruises in our soul, we need to know how to heal.

The word 'healing' is abstract and vague. There's healing of the body, healing of the mind, healing of the soul. There's sexual healing, there's social healing. All of this is irrelevant if you look at the 'universal rule' about healing: Changing your outside environment doesn't heal your pain, it avoids your pain. Avoiding pain is not the same as healing pain. If you parry a blow, it's not the same thing as putting ice on a black eye. Since you cannot avoid all the punches life throws at you, knowing how to spiritually put ice on your black-eyed soul is not only helpful, it's necessary.

To heal your spiritual scars, you can't simply 'talk about what's bothering you'- you need to change your attitude about it. It's all about your perception, which is inherently stronger than anything you're physically capable of. We've all had the strange feeling of doing what we're supposed to but still not feeling quite 'right.' This is because our emotions and our attitude about the situation are the root of our problem, not our actual physical solution. Life is not a matter of doing, it's a matter of being and feeling. Feelings are more natural than what we do. We do not become better people by doing good things, we become better people by doing good things and feeling great about them.

One might argue that we need a healthy outside environment to be happy on the inside. I don't believe this is true. If we trust our fantasies and if we feel good about nothing, when there really is nothing- then that is better than feeling bad. When we hit rock bottom and there is no decent reality to look at, creating a fantasy is not only constructive, it should be encouraged. Through hope and belief - not facts - we can rise out of our misery. Consequently, our reality and our choices about our reality will get better when our emotions, perception and attitude get better.

The next time you begin healing, before dialing the phone number to the nearest 12-step program, stop and think long and hard about your attitude, emotions and perception.

And remember: The final, pleasing result of healing from the inside out is satisfying relationships with other people.

© Sam Leonard
Life Channels Staff Writer
All Rights Reserved

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