Meditation and Pain

One hard truth about life is that we have all known struggles and pain. In lent we reflect on where we have caused pain and maybe also where pain has been inflicted upon us. Christianity with its story of the curse agrees with Buddhism’s truth that life involves suffering. Where the faiths go from there varies but experience tells us that they are both correct in noting the presence of pain along the journey. 

In my experience when one gets into meditation our forgotten pasts can bubble up. The apostle Paul tells us at one point to take our thoughts captive, I imagine he knew about this feature of the quiet time many spend with God. Many have experienced past trauma, stuff they had completely forgotten, percolating up for through meditation, this is hard but normal.

In some instances the trauma that comes up brings us to tears. We may find ourselves surprised by what is happening. If we are experienced enough we might be able to hold a certain curiosity towards the emotions and images. If they are too difficult we may even want to seek help in addressing them. This is noble, remember you are empowered by the Holy Spirit of God in addressing whatever it is and we are stronger for facing the past. 

If it is not such that you will want to seek counselling, or if you are the obstinate not-gonna-see-someone-type then I want to suggest a natural process you might try sometime. 

Much of prayer is about healing, healing our world, our community, our friends…it can also be about our own healing. Our realizing we are forgiven, our realizing we may forgive others. If you sometimes find meditation bringing up painful matters, you may try to thank God for bringing these matters to your attention and then asking God what you ned to learn from them. If any clarity comes you may ask God to help you to move forward in whatever manner seems correct. 

God can heal us, he can show us the pains we need to address, teach us how to address them, and see us through the challenge. There is so much promise in this, we can become so much more fulfilled, whole, and satisfied in our lives as we progress down the road, facing fears and tragedy head on. 

At the very least, I want you to know if this happens to you and you find yourself crying know that you are not alone in this, it is a relatively common event, and also that God can and will be with you in the difficulty. Do not stop because of this but forge on ahead. On the other side is something worthy of your striving.