Comments on: Pain Substitution

By: Laurel U-S

Laurel U-S — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 01:27:10 +0000

A year after my husband of 21 years passed away, I was so deep into emotional pain that I needed to experience physical pain. My husband-my hero-lost his 5-year battle with cancer 1 week before his 50th birthday. I took a picture of us on our first date to a tatoo shop and spent about 8 hours in the chair relieved by the physical pain as I was getting his face when he was young, vital, and healthy, tatooed on my body. I have NO regrets…and it was a ‘nice’ change of pain.

By: Suzann Robins

Suzann Robins — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 23:34:54 +0000

I am so glad to hear that the 12 Step program also taught that embracing grief is a path of the heart. Learning to access the lessons that pain brings is a way to self-learning. Why aren’t our young people avoiding pain rather than inflicting it on themselves through piercing and tatooing, cutting and burning. What did they miss that we can give back to them now?

By: Eunice Louise

Eunice Louise — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 02:50:56 +0000

I take heart in hearing your words. Yes, emotional pain is part of the human condition and the link you have made from emotional to physical pain is so true. I love your phrase “our heart’s capacity for courage…transmutes into a deep emotional intelligence…often called wisdom.”

By: Alicia Bay Laurel

Alicia Bay Laurel — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 08:35:29 +0000

In 12 Step Program, I learned that addiction is a way of avoiding grief, usually grief over losing one’s self-esteem by being abused as a child by one’s caregivers. I learned that there is no end to the avoidance of grief except death. I learned that if I embraced and tried to understand my grief instead of avoiding it through addictive behaviors, there was a beginning, a middle and and end to my grief, after which I began to live a much fuller and more joyful life.