I invite you to try the following exercise to see if you can 'shift' your experience of pain right now. This exercise is not one of my own making, but a combination of techniques I have developed from my own work with personal pain, and have used with clients for many years.

Sit quietly and imagine yourself in a beautiful, sacred, protected place. Make it as real as you can--notice what you see, hear and feel in this beautiful place, that I call the Sacred Space. Get in touch with what you're feeling physically and emotionally. Find the area within your body most in pain. For physical pain, that will be obvious. For emotional pain, try to locate the place in your body in which the pain most clearly resides. Then, become aware of what the pain is like, using your imagination to describe it to yourself. What color is the pain? What shape? What texture? How big is it? Now, ask a Higher Source of your choosing to join you in the Sacred Space. This could be God, an angel, a spirit or animal guide, a loved one who is has died, simply Divine Light or something else of your choosing.

Being very humble and polite, ask this Higher Source to help you now. Request that this Higher Source do whatever It can to help you embrace the immense pain you are in. Now, with the help of the Higher Source, consciously welcome the pain into your being. Frequently, the easiest place to welcome in the pain is through the heart. The Higher Source might send a laser beam of light to the source of pain, and surround it with love, then move it into your heart, for example. Any time you feel resistance, simply love that as well. Be gentle with yourself. Once you have embraced the pain, however this works best, simply let the pain know that it is welcome within you, that you are setting your intention to love even this difficult emotional state of being. Continue to breathe quietly into this experience, being aware of what changes you may be experiencing physically and/or emotionally. Do this for just a few minutes at a time. When you feel ready to complete, thank your Highest Source for Its help, and formally leave the Sacred Space by walking out a door or shutting the portal down in some other way that works for you.

This exercise can be very powerful. It works best if done repeatedly, perhaps several times a day if you find yourself in the midst of despair. This 'teaches' the psyche that every time the pain comes up, you'll be embracing it, rather than running away. And as practice this new approach to experiencing pain, you may find the pain becoming less and less psychologically trying. Instead of being a source of anxiety, terror and dread, the pain simply is the pain, another aspect of your being that you are welcoming in. And then magical things may begin to happen, as you allow yourself to love even this painful part. Spirit is on the field, and healing can begin happening, whether that healing is simply an acceptance of what is and the ability to integrate it, or whether the healing is an actual physical or emotional change. This can also be a time of mystical experiences and visions, something I used to be fascinated by but not so much anymore. The most important experience is that of knowing your own connection to Divinity...even now, in the midst of this intense present moment.

This is just one example of the many ways of meeting pain where it resides, but a very loving and effective one. If you are interested in finding out more about my workshops for working with grief and loss, please click the other buttons on the left side! Thanks so much and many blessings to each of you.

Love, Dr. Jen, the 'good grief guru.'