Pain

Pain needs your bravery
It needs your courage
It needs your presence.

Pain needs you to show up.
It’s been waiting a long time
For you to realize
There is more pain in denying pain
Than in risking feeling it.
Understanding it’s message
Understanding you can move through it.
Understanding your fears had built it up into a monster.

Some pain is however monster-sized
Some pain may feel to big to handle
Some pain is daunting.
Some pain needs support from others to feel.

And when we do
We gasp in wonder and awe
At how we made it through
And wonder at what it taught us.
Before it lessens and retreats
In the face of experience and seeing it for what it really is and it’s place in the bigger picture
Into a less-feared and a little more respected colleague.

Phoenix Arrien