Written by “Pain doesn’t guarantee gain.” ~ Marcia A.
We are all familiar with the saying, “No pain, no gain.” There is a grain of truth in that. But it is also true that we can set ourselves up for a lot of pain without gaining a thing. Of itself, pain doesn’t guarantee success.
Pain never pays off, for example, when we insist on misnaming what is going on in our lives. If we call our workaholism responsibility, that cycle will never be broken. If we look at our inability to play as “devotion to serious duty,” we will never learn to play. If “bad luck” is how we describe a long series of destructive relationships, there will be no end to the disappointmnets. Pain will beget only more pain, just as it has before.
We have to be honest about what it is that’s really happening. Misnaming is a form of lying. And it guarantees that there will be no gain.
Today, I will examine the labels I’ve attached to my life situations. Am I telling myself the truth?
~ Days of Healing, Days of Joy ~ June 20; Hazelden Meditation Series
