Pain is something that is a part of life, but what if we are experiencing more pain than we need to? If we want to live our best life, we have to avoid feeding the pain monster.
The trick is knowing what it eats.
Pain Breeds Pain
The thing about pain is it can multiply quite easily. One person fails to get a promotion and goes home and snaps at their spouse. Another person slams their finger in a door and takes it out on the next person who walks through it.
Pain has a way of spreading and propagating itself. It goes from one victim to the next infecting each along the way. Unless someone stops and undoes the damage it will keep going; the best way to stop it is to stop feeding the pain monster.
Keeping Pain Alive
Pain doesn’t just have to go on to hurt others and leave. It can stay indefinitely. If it finds a welcoming home, it may never leave.
We must avoid feeding the pain monster inside of us. There is one thing that keeps it alive: negativity. When we drudge up old wrongs or seethe with anger over a past slight, we feed it. When we use angry labels like “moron”, “idiot”, and “stupid” or when we badmouth people, we are feeding the pain monster. We are keeping the pain alive, because it’s the pain that feeds that negativity.
Avoid Feeding the Pain Monster
If you want to stop the pain, you have to stop feeding it. You must find the path to forgiveness. After all, it’s like the saying goes, “resentment is like taking poison and waiting for the other person to die.” We may have real reasons to be angry, but our anger doesn’t make us better; it hurts us and feeds our pain.
We have to focus on kindness and positivity. We must focus on healing and hope. We can keep on feeding the pain monster or we can instead decide to feed something that will give us hope, happiness, and a brighter future. We most focus on hope.
