Where Does the Pain Go?

Last weekend, I attended an online writing workshop at Kripalu with Dani Shapiro. We received several prompts throughout the weekend to inspire our writing. I wasn’t quite sure how to tackle the prompt, “What does it mean to you that life finds you if you let it?” But then my pen started to move, and this is what showed up on my page. It might not be an exact answer to the prompt, but it’s what came up for me.

Our culture has a tendency to seek ways to numb ourselves so we don’t have to feel pain. We drink, take drugs (including prescribed ones), eat sugary foods, watch trashy TV, and do a plethora of other things to avoid our feelings.

But where does the pain go?