Pain

pain
2 entries found.
pain[1,noun]pain[2,verb]
Main Entry:
1pain
Pronunciation:
\ˈpān\
Function:
noun
Etymology:
Middle English, from Anglo-French peine, from Latin poena, from Greek poinē payment, penalty; akin to Greek tinein to pay, tinesthai to punish, Avestan kaēnā revenge, Sanskrit cayate he revenges
Date:
14th century
1: punishment2 a: usu. localized physical suffering associated with bodily disorder (as a disease or an injury); also : a basic bodily sensation induced by a noxious stimulus, received by naked nerve endings, characterized by physical discomfort (as pricking, throbbing, or aching), and typically leading to evasive action b: acute mental or emotional distress or suffering : grief3plural : the throes of childbirth4plural : trouble, care, or effort taken to accomplish something 5: one that irks or annoys or is otherwise troublesome —often used in such phrases as pain in the neck
— pain·less \-ləs\ adjective
— pain·less·ly adverb
— pain·less·ness noun
— on pain of or under pain of
: subject to penalty or punishment of

I have been thinking about pain today. I read some stories about the survivors of the bridge collapse of I35W in Minneapolis. People who were in the middle of the span survived the fall into the river. They rode the bridge down and survived because the impact was absorbed in part by the road, in part by their vehicles, and in part because the human body is designed to take some impact.

I found out today that a dear friend of mine has liver cancer. He is postponing treatment until after his daughter's wedding. I feel so sad.

I had a painful day yesterday. My back and leg hurt. If it were June, yesterday would have been an average day as far as pain. Because of my pain device, I am not used to feeling this much pain so I suffered more today than I would have in June. I could not fully comprehend the pain I was in until I wasn't in that much pain anymore.

If you put a frog in a pan of boiling water, the frog will try and jump right out. But if you put a frog in a pot of lukewarm water and gradually bring it to a boil, the frog will stay in and die.

I can see two categories of pain - useful pain and useless pain. Useful pain is determined by our response to the pain. If the physical pain stops me from touching the stove and getting burned, it's useful pain. If the emotional pain stops me from spending my limited time and energy with a noxious person, it's useful pain. If the physical pain cannot be avoided by changing my behavior, such as chronic low back pain, the pain is useless. Not all pain can be avoided. Pain is one of the many emotions we have been blessed to receive. Maybe happiness would not be as intense without the pain to balance it out.

It hurts so good. C'mon baby make it hurt so good. Sometimes love don't feel like it should. It hurts so good.