Every single force in the Kosmos seek self-fulfillment, and
part of fulfilling one’s raison d’ĂȘtre is self-expression –
and such strength is behind this inherent drive to self-expression of each
entity that, should anything try to stop it from expressing itself, the
silenced force will necessarily find alternative ways to play out its nature,
even if this means it that those ways are hidden from the naked eye of the self.
Such is the law of human psyche: every single drive, emotion,
trait, urge and impulse seeks its own fulfillment and expression; understanding
this matter is of utmost importance if one is to live life fully, giving it one’s
one hundred percent. The ultimate meaning of life is not just to be present in
the here and now, but to embody and express the full-spectrum of one’s being,
without leaving any part behind, without disowning any aspect of one’s self.
When any aspect of the human psyche is disowned, and deemed
to not be part of the subject “I” – “I am not like that” (I am not angry,
greedy, scared, cruel, dishonest etc) this aspect continues to be part of the
psyche – it doesn't just disappear in the void just because the self has
declared it unacceptable, or “Not Me”; but it lingers as a split-off of a
fragmented self, in the shadows of the unconscious mind, getting a life of its
own. Once denied expression from the self’s conscious awareness, the disowned voices
find alternative ways to express themselves, outside of the self’s volition and
cognition: they simply turn dark.
Pain is very often none other than such expression of
disowned parts of the psyche from the Shadow; since Shadow, by definition,
cannot be known, it is impossible to uncover the disowned parts through
self-inquiry.
One of the ways to uncover, recognize and integrate Shadow
elements is through physical pain.
In his Focusing protocol, Eugene Gendlin http://www.focusing.org/bios/gendlin_bio.html
starts a psychotherapy session by greeting the pain or body-felt sensation, as
if greeting a friend: “Hello, I know you’re there”, which represents a first step in acknowledging a previously
disowned voice of one’s mind, and the beginning of its fulfillment. A next step
could consist of having a conversation with the pain: “Who are you? What do you
want, or need?” and an answer would lead to finding that long-lost voice
(long-lost because most of the repressing and suppressing occurs during
childhood). Gendlin continues with finding an attribute that best describes the
pain / sensation (“tight”, “constricted”, “irritating”, “burning pressure”
etc), and ensuring that the word fully resonates with the body-felt sensation.
A few moments of silent focusing on the “tight” or “burning” etc. sensation
gives the shadow element the very thing that will bring it out of the shadows:
the self’s attention, which is the equivalent of flashing a light upon the
disowned kids in the basement. The continuing dialogue is bound to bring an
insight to the self, accompanied by a release of tension: “What makes you so “irritated”?
What do you need me to change in order to stop being such a “burning pressure”?
At the point of identifying a sore spot on an individual’s
body, Avi Grinberg, founder of the Grinberg method and author of “Pain, Fear
and Other Friends” http://www.grinbergmethod.com/
explores the individual’s agreement to feel that pain, and
to allow the physical expression of the pain through body movement and breath.

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