Your Pain is Your Prophet

Several years ago I attended a talk given by an important theologian and voice in my life, Peter Rollins. Midway through his talk he said, “Your symptom is your prophet.” Those words disrupted me. How often have I tried to escape, ignore, numb, dismiss, or underestimate the symptoms in my life. And, for good reason. Pain hurts. Yet, here is an important voice in my life reframing my symptoms, my pain, as a teacher, coach, and mentor. I sat there reconsidering this new idea that  my symptoms are speaking to me, they are telling me something. My symptoms are a pathway to understanding what I am feeling. And, my pain is a proper response to the wound, or wounds, I have suffered. 

Recently, I was working out at my local gym when I saw a fellow weightlifter wearing a shirt which read, “Pain is just weakness leaving the body.” I presume that quote is intended to speak to the physical pain one experiences by repeatedly lifting weights. Building strength is painful. However, my concern is that quote represents how many of us view pain in our lives. We try to escape, ignore, numb, dismiss, or underestimate our pain because we believe it’s weak. We tell ourselves “ I should…”, right? Any of these sound familiar? I should be stronger. I should be through this by now. This still shouldn’t be affecting me. What if we stop telling ourselves “I should” and redirect our energy toward the pain. I want to encourage all of us to steer into the pain allowing it to teach, coach, and mentor so we can properly heal. Pain is not weak. Pain is our prophet. It alerts us that something is wrong. Pain is a proper response to your trauma, the divorce, the accident, your loss, a broken relationship, unfulfilled hopes and dreams, the disappointment, or the many other forms of wounds we experience in life.

Peace and grace as you embrace the courageous work of steering into your pain, naming it, understanding why it’s there, and taking the steps to heal.

~Dan Wright, MDiv, MA, LLC