The necessity of pain and the creative process
We avoid pain. Physical pain, emotional pain and psychic
pains are all pains we try ti steer away from.
A good life is a happy life – we think or at least we hope it will be
when we can attain this happiness.
Can you live a life without shadows? I walk 6 kms to work each day, in summer I
walk on the side of the road which is most in shadow. It is shady and cool from the heat of early morning
sun light. Likewise when walking home, I
shadow hop as the pavement and road throws of the heat it has absorbed during
the day. We sit in the shade of trees,
to read, write, reflect and watch the world go by. Shadows are part of life, they are a
necessity, so with pain. It is a
necessity.
Happiness is the holiday; life provides us in between the
lessons of pain. It is how we react to pain that determines who we become. Emotional pain, psychic pain can cause us to
contract, to shut down, to become bitter and cynical or it cause us to become
more receptive to life, more accepting, more welcoming.
When people admire the beauty of the lotus flower they do
not see the mud in which it grows.
There is mud in all our lives, it is whether we allow the
mud to fertilize the beauty of our souls.
The past few weeks’ life has decided I needed another lesson
from pain. I would have preferred not to
have had the lesson yet it was gifted. For
what purpose remains unclear. The pain
and confusion was such that I could not continue my usual practice of writing a
poem a day. The mud in the pond of my
life was stirred up.
Sometimes we need to learn to wait. Sometimes we can be like petulant children
demanding an answer, a reason. Sometimes
it is necessary to sit, to wait for in waiting pain sharpens the creative
spark. Pain can be like the flint, the
stone against which creativity strikes and the spark of something new is born.
Pain is a necessity of life.
This does not mean we become masochists, it is simply the realization
pain will be our lot. It is facing that
realization with calmness, with equanimity.
It is waiting for the mud to settle.
It is trusting the lotus flower of creativity will bloom again in all
its uniqueness, its beauty and its individual perspective.
It is within the darkness David that we find the light.
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