Joining the pain

Whether it is the chronic pain I feel in my joints for the last 3 years or the pain of a world being undone (what seems as the world's pain is somebody's personal pain) I am often sitting with the reality of some kind of pain. Whether it's mine or another's, whether it's physical or emotional, it is an unwanted guest with its demands and complexities, the pain.

Recently I read somewhere, “Join pain; practice minimizing, not magnifying it.”

I find the idea of joining pain counterintuitive, even jarring, yet at the same time strangely comforting. I found my mind revisiting this odd instruction “join pain”, wondering about it like an insurmountable koan. But really, what does it mean?

Theoretically I understand it is about accepting what is and being present with it, witnessing it with equanimity. It is also grief work. Grief as a practice is the heart opener and the keeper of sanity.

But this “join” feels different, yet. Maybe it sounds more like “befriending”? My body has a felt-sense about joining (versus resisting) and it reminds me of water flowing around any obsticle, in a way joining the course of her journey.

The action of joining is an inquiry right now. What does it mean to join “life” even when it shows up as pain right now?

Do you practice joining pain?

In the Desert
By Stephen Crane

In the desert
I saw a creature, naked, bestial,
Who, squatting upon the ground,
Held his heart in his hands,
And ate of it.
I said, “Is it good, friend?”
“It is bitter—bitter,” he answered;

“But I like it
“Because it is bitter,
“And because it is my heart.”