What Pain do you Choose?

by Glen Depke, Traditional Naturopath

I know, most of you may be thinking “I do not choose any pain?”

Look at this very simply though. The human race is very often motivated by pain. I know, sad but true. Personally, if it was not for the pain this would cause me in regard to my health, I would live on pizza and Coca Cola. These both taste “oh so good” to me, but I have to choose my pain. Do I choose the pain I would feel if I consumed these with regularity or choose the pain of abstaining from these foods. For me this is an easy choice. The pain of eliminating these from my diet is much less intense than the pain I would feel from consuming these. 

This may seem like and easy choice to come of you and some will even say that this is simple common sense.

For many, this is simply not the case.

Very often people know what is creating challenges for them, yet they continue to consume these foods. Some may think, if you know what is hurting you, why would you continue to do this? Simple, right? For many though the pain of giving this up is actually greater than pain felt by consuming the food. Very often you will find those choosing this type of pain share the saying “everything in moderation.”

In my opinion the thought of “moderation” in foods that damage you is not a viable option. I have seen it more than once, when clients understand what their food intolerance is, yet they continue to consume these foods. Again, it is simply a choice of the lessor pain.

From the nutritional perspective, I do not want to come across as saying everyone has to give up their food choices that create pain. Heck, many people that have food intolerance are actually asymptomatic so the thought of giving up a potential future pain for a pain right now, this does not make sense. I do not agree with this thought, but I “get” it.

I simply want to make the point that people are motivated by pain and typically choose what is perceived as the lessor pain.

Let’s look at some other examples now.

Health overall is a holistic view. Your health is not just physical, it is also mental, emotional, chemical, vibrational and spiritual. Going future your health is also tied into other areas such as your financial and relationship health.

We’ll look at relationship health for our next example. 

First off, relationship health can be with a spouse, sibling or even friends and acquaintances. Image that you were hurt emotionally by a spouse. From this point you will see some choices that are motivated by pain again. Many times we make the choice to hold onto emotional pain as a defense mechanism. I would guess that most reading this article have had a time in their life where they did not want to let something go and forgive because we feel that if we do, we are just opening ourselves to future pain. This is another example of choosing a pain. Understand that holding onto (suppressing) your emotion is a form of pain but there may be potential pain if you forgive and let this go.

I know, what’s a person to do?

First off, acknowledge times that you are allowing pain to motivate you. When this occurs and you are aware, the next step is to accept this.

I know, ACCEPT this?!?! 

Before you get too excited about this, let me define something here. When I say accept, I do not mean that you have to like or appreciate this. The acceptance is simply the beginning of change. 

Once you accept that you are motivated by pain, simply take responsibility for this. Don’t play the victim role or play the blame game. I am not saying that nobody else is playing a role in your pain, but understand that you are the only person you are in control of, so taking full responsibility is a key. This puts you in control of your life and presents an empowering state.

Once you have accepted and taken responsibility, it is now time to ask yourself a simple question. Is what I am doing empowering for me or dysempowering for me? If you answered dysempowering, the next step is to simply do something different and focus on a choice that would be empowering for you and for those around you.

Understand that when you make choices from personal empowerment that actually lift you and those around you, life simply becomes much easier all the time. What does much easier mean to you? 

Less pain!

So in the end, recognize the most of us simply choose the pain we live with. While this is generally motivated by what creates the least pain, the result is still pain.

You can choose something empowering for yourself and find a life that is much easier to move through.

You get to choose!

To enjoy an eye opening interview with one of our worlds leaders in relationship health, Todd Creager, visit this link to register for a complimentary interview coming up on Tuesday September 10, 2013. Again, you get to choose!