08-02-2015, 06:56 PM
I agree that pain is a messenger, and all you have said in the OP. Not listening to our own bodies and our personal messaging system instead of honoring it with wisdom does seem counterproductive and disconnected. This is aside from any addictions which complicate the messages. The fact that we push through physical pain is perhaps analogous to having to go through pain in order to grow spiritually and evolve.
To give ourselves a break, I think one origin of this attitude is developed in childhood, when some of us had very difficult situations to handle in dysfunctional families. And children are survivors—so they learn to push through the pain to survive.
Also, I don't think we should confuse listening to our bodies with listening to outside authority. I am thinking of a man in AZ (if I recall his name is Mac Newton and he wrote a book I read which I loaned out and did not get back, and I can't recall the title), who taught martial arts and was a highly sought coach for professional sports. He was in the Vietnam war and wounded badly. He was told he would never walk again and if he tried, he would further damage what was left of him. He went through the usual anger, sadness, etc. But his spirit rose up and he basically said, screw it. He tried anyway and he pushed through the enormous pain and didn't give up until he could not only walk again, but become a superb athlete and teacher.
To give ourselves a break, I think one origin of this attitude is developed in childhood, when some of us had very difficult situations to handle in dysfunctional families. And children are survivors—so they learn to push through the pain to survive.
Also, I don't think we should confuse listening to our bodies with listening to outside authority. I am thinking of a man in AZ (if I recall his name is Mac Newton and he wrote a book I read which I loaned out and did not get back, and I can't recall the title), who taught martial arts and was a highly sought coach for professional sports. He was in the Vietnam war and wounded badly. He was told he would never walk again and if he tried, he would further damage what was left of him. He went through the usual anger, sadness, etc. But his spirit rose up and he basically said, screw it. He tried anyway and he pushed through the enormous pain and didn't give up until he could not only walk again, but become a superb athlete and teacher.