Residual Pain

Today, in a fascinating synchronicity, my friend Cody Dennis and I both simultaneously published articles on how we are are not defined by our thoughts. Cody’s lucid article explores this view from the angle of testing our thoughts about ourselves against the facts of present reality and offers some tools from Byron Katie’s “the Work” to help us explore this process for ourselves. It’s very much worth the read if you’re interested in doing this kind of inquiry for yourself.

Sincerely,
Adam

If we all were truly honest with ourselves, we would have to admit that there are some aspects of ourselves that are in pain. Life in some sense implies a certain amount of physical and emotional pain. It is the nature of life to be dynamic and explore drastic movements from the most ecstatic bliss to the deepest sorrow. However, these movements do not need to be glued to your being.

The perspective I am going to share is not meant to undermine any amount of emotional pain. I am only offering another possible angle in which we can perceive and work with our pain. In reality, it can be discovered that this is not ‘work’ in the normal sense of the word.

The standard perspective is that we are the voice in the head. That we are the character in those vivid mental images about how we are inadequate…