Do Not Avoid the Pain
Life Is Painful
Life bombards us with painful and unpleasant energy. From the moment of birth, when we are extracted from the warm, safe confines of the womb; to the trials and tribulations of childhood; to daily interactions with our fellow human beings; there is hardly a break from the flow of low-frequency energy in our lives. It is natural for us to feel pain and discomfort when encountering this negative energy. However, there are healthy and unhealthy ways to deal with pain, and the decisions we make determine the level of impact pain has on our life.
The complex human mind is a wonderful tool. Among its many attributes is the ability to manipulate the complex web of feelings that emerge from our interactions with daily life. Because many of life’s touch points are painful, our minds develop a host of defense mechanisms to help guard against negative feelings. These strategies often involve trying to avoid pain by damping it down, compartmentalizing it, or otherwise burying negative emotions. On the surface, this might seem reasonable. However, as we shall explore, most of these defensive measures end up causing more harm than good.
Humans have a unique ability to evade psychological pain. We can bury our response to negative stimuli deep within our neural network. The trouble is, any time we block unwanted thoughts or impulses, whether unconsciously (repression), or consciously (suppression), we risk trapping this energy within our body, psyche, or both. Unless this trapped energy is excised in the proper way, it festers and grows into an even greater destructive force.
It might help to think of negative energy as being like the electricity that powers your home. Once channeled into your house, electricity can take one of three different paths: You can use it to power something, it can return to the power grid, or you can store it in batteries for use later. Repressing or suppressing negative energy is akin to storing this energy for later use. However, instead of using a battery, we bury the feelings associated with negative events within the physical body or deep within our psychological framework (or both). Unlike our electricity analogy, stored negative energy does not just sit there, passively waiting for us to bring it into awareness. Instead, it engages in a constant struggle to release and manifest itself. It wants to be set loose so it can fulfill its mission and create reality. So, it rises to the surface as reactionary behavior, emotional outbursts, and negative emotions. Of course, if you are trying to avoid this energy, this can create genuine problems.
Compounding Repressed Energy
What is our natural response when these energy gremlins bubble to the surface? Well, our logical mind would have us pour even more energy into keeping these unwanted feelings submerged. As an example, let’s assume you experienced a traumatic childhood event with which, for various reasons, you do not want to deal. Instead, you bury these negative feelings deep within your psyche. As you mature, this energy bubbles to the surface as sadness, anger, or rebelliousness. Each time this happens, you apply force to avoid the painful feelings. Over time, as the original pain absorbs more and more energy, it morphs into ever-more-extreme negative emotions and behaviors. Sadness becomes depression, anger becomes violence, rebelliousness morphs into self-destructive behavior, and so on. This describes the compounding process of repressed energy. It takes an acorn of pain and nourishes it so that it grows into a mighty oak of uncontrolled pathological reactions.
The Effects of Repressed Energy
In the real world, the effects of repressive and suppressive energy can be extensive and extreme. In fact, they are the primary contributing factors for most of the horrible behavior we see in the world. Just look at your own life and at the world around you. We are awash in reactionary anger and violence, in rabid materialism, in psychological diseases, and in a cornucopia of pathological behaviors, most of which are because of repressed pain. With repressed Creative-Energy, there is no “free lunch.” You cannot bury it or hide it. Creative-Energy will always express itself.
To a lesser or greater extent, every life bears the burden of repressed pain. As storage facilities for buried thoughts, feelings, and memories, we are at the mercy of this unresolved energy bubbling to the surface and taking control of our lives. In fact, repression is baked right into our culture and institutions. Many of us are taught from childhood to compartmentalize or to deny our negative feelings outright. We are encouraged to tuck them away and move forward with no guidance on how to process emotional pain. Even our religious institutions provide an unhealthy response for dealing with destructive energy. Instead of taking personal responsibility for engaging with pain, they provide a proxy in the form of deities or saints. It is all well and good to “give your pain to God,” but if you have not taken the personal steps to process this energy and learn the lessons embedded within the pain, then you are back to square-one—repressed energy.
We all have negative behaviors that stem from our failure to process negative energy healthily. As we examine our lives, it behooves us to examine this history and take responsibility for confronting the pain at the root of these behaviors. These issues do not resolve themselves. They require overt action and our willingness to face our darkest fears. Only then can we hope to free ourselves from their oppressive grip.
~Marc Max Pollock