Today I am suffering tooth ache, so it is an opportunity to explore pain.  If I was not suffering a bit, I would not have been thinking about it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pain

http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Pain/Pages/Painhome.aspx

Pain toolkit

http://www.britishpainsociety.org

To be honest, I am not too bad.  I have an appointment with the dentist in 2 days.  The pain sometimes comes and goes and when I feel pain I can have some paracetamol that is helping me.

It is something interesting when thinking about why, in my case, the pain goes and comes, and I can relate it to when "impulses" come and go.

When thinking about pain, I am thinking that there are different types of pain: physical, emotional (bereavement, worries, etc.), temporal, chronic, mild, severe...

One of the benefits of having some sporadic pain is that it reminds you to appreciate the times when you are not suffering it.  
Thinking about the benefits of doing physical exercise and how you good you can feel (because of the endorphins: brain's feel-good neurotransmitter), I was thinking that maybe it could be interesting to explore if when doing exercise, these same endorphins can reduce pains such as tooth ache.  Maybe you could be running and when there is pain, try to run faster?  At least you will do more exercise.

Suffering can lead to perfection, as there is a strong motivation to think about it, about its causes, about what to do, about other people with sufferings and it can make you feel humble as you realise that you are not so powerful or proud, but human as anybody, the same as the smallest of the human beings with the same pains and sufferings.  How much money could be paid to get read of pain?


I have included some quotations about pain that I found inspiring:

"The secret of success is learning how to use pain and pleasure instead of having pain and pleasure use you.  If you do that, you´re in control of your life.   If you don´t, life controls you."
Tony Robbins

"Without pain, there would be no suffering, without suffering we would never learn from our mistakes.  To make it right, pain and suffering is the key to all windows, without it, there is no way of life."
Angelina Jolie

"Experience sadness and anger can make you feel more creative, and by being creative, you can get beyond your pain or negativity."
Yoko Ono

The truth is that we can learn to condition our minds, bodies and emotions to link pain or pleasure to whatever we choose.  By changing what we link pain and pleasure to, we will instantly change our behaviors."
Tony Robbins

"Comediants don´t have a monopoly on suffering.   But creative people are sometimes fortunate enough to be able to incorporate their most traumatic experiences into their art."
Matt Lucas

THE PLEASURE OF COMMUTING

Every morning I walk, I use the train,
the Jubilee Line and the Overground.

Every morning I have the pleasure of
reading, thinking, writing and feeling.

Overground I run with my legs.
Underground I think with my brain.

Every morning I give thanks for my blessings, for my thoughts
and for the opportunities I have in my life.

Every morning I feel inspired by God
and in the evening, the tube gives rest to my soul.

Miguel Acha

There are several concepts that relate creativity and spirituality:

• Creativity
• Creativity (religion)
• Biblical inspiration
• Artistic inspiration
• Thought inspiration
• Inhalation
• Intuition
• Enlightment
• Mysticism
• Prayer
• Meditation
• Spirituality

Some people believe in hard work as the key to producing ideas.  Some people believe that there is an inspiration that can explain how some ideas appear suddenly, in a mysterious way.

Inspiration can be interpreted as something that is produced naturally as a step in a creative process in which the brain is unconsciously working on it: Preparation, Incubation, Illumination and Verification.  Wallas Creative Process Model

However, when thinking about meditation, mindfulness, awareness, there is a component of perception,  that is more than interpretation of sensory information, an awareness of our own thoughts, emotions, that can be used positively, just by being aware of them.  This "listening" of our selves, can be an important step to feel our individuality, our own motivations and the influence of the environment.

A nice landscape, with images of sun raising, being in the mountain, in close contact with nature, the lakes, etc. can have a nice effect on our perception, on our sensitivity.   When thinking about our feelings and emotions, when thinking about our happiness or our sorrows, when asking in silence "what is the meaning of my life?" or "What is God´s plan for my life?", prayer becomes something else than being grateful or forgiven, a way of being inspired.  

There are times when we think about what do we want to study, what do we want to learn, what do we want to do as a job, what are we good at, what motivate us... what type of life we want to have.

And then, when thinking about working, usually we think where can we be working, who can need us and this can be linked to thinking about our purpose on life and how to use our gifts or talents to fulfill our own personal mission, so we can find an inspiring job.

Then, some ideas come with a special motivation, a special energy to be used to do something with them.  It is the type of feeling such as when you are totally motivated to help somebody and you don´t feel the loss of energy, you feel you are doing it effortless, because you are in a state of flow, totally concentrated.


"We do not have to be saviours of the world!  We are simply human beings, enfolded in weakness and in hope, called together to change our world one heart at a time"
Jean Vanier

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world."
Mahatma Gandhi