By acting in ways that are consistent with becoming aware of the wishes, feelings, and needs of others, and taking the needs of others into consideration when you make a conscious decision about how you want to act, you will experience greater balance spiritually and overall. A solution-oriented strategy is to begin to develop a habit of thinking and acting consistent with the Serenity Prayer’s guidance to “accept the things I cannot change,” where you can accept your chronic pain as a part of your life and counteract it with the spiritual principle of surrender. Remember, paradoxically, surrendering to the things you cannot control or change is necessary to begin to reestablish the ability to choose how you want to act and what kind of life you want to have. One of the most important skills necessary to pain recovery is learning how to cope effectively with the often small but irritating normal and natural frustrations of life. Maintaining the spirituality necessary for recovery can require ongoing practice in developing your understanding of and ability to apply such principles as patience, tolerance, acceptance, and humility. Patience is waiting without worrying and enduring without complaint. Tolerance is a spiritual principle that facilitates peaceful coexistence with physical pain and other feelings that are uncomfortable and/or painful, as well as with those people who may annoy, irritate, or otherwise upset you. Acceptance is about being okay with situations and people as they are, rather than focusing on how you want them to be or believe they should be. Humility is not thinking less of oneself, but thinking of oneself less. The more that you can remain in conscious contact with these spiritual principles, the more balance you will have and the better equipped you will be to accept the full range of experiences that life will present you with.
Finding Spiritual Balance
Take a moment to list any extremes you are experiencing spiritually. _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ Describe what you think is needed for you to be balanced spiritually. _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ What, if anything, is holding you back from achieving this balance? _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ Another important part of the maintenance of pain recovery is cultivating an attitude of gratitude for whatever blessings you have. Sometimes you may have to look a little harder to see the blessings in your life, but there are always things to be grateful for, no matter how desperate the situation seems. You can learn, perhaps to your surprise, that it is possible to remain in conscious contact with gratitude in spite of feelings of physical pain, anger, depression, or fear. The balancing effects of enhanced spirituality and its positive impact on your pain recovery may become apparent only gradually over time. It can be weeks or even months after these processes first begin before you realize that your awareness, feelings, and behavior have started to change. When you build a balanced foundation of spirituality that is based on hope, trust, and faith, you maximize both your internal harmony and the potential for harmony between yourself and others. recommended reading: Everyday Tao: Living with Balance and Harmony, by Deng Ming-Dao; HarperCollins. This blog post is an excerpt from Pain Recovery – How to Find Balance and Reduce Suffering from Chronic Pain by Mel Pohl, MD, FASAM, Frank Szabo, LADC, Daniel Shiode, PhD, Robert Hunter, PhD; Published by Central Recovery Press (CRP).
