The memory of pain

Many years ago I weighed about thirty pounds more than I do now. Over time, my knees and ankles started to hurt. My knees and ankles would hurt as soon as I put my feet on the ground in the morning. They would also hurt when I moved in certain ways. When I started to practice yoga, the weight started to melt away and one day I realized that neither my ankles or my knees hurt anymore. Yet I found myself every now and then flinching in preparation to feel the pain when I moved in several ways. I was remembering the pain.

Our bodies remember pain, yet it is not only our bodies that remember the pain. Emotionally, we remember too. We flinch when we move in a certain direction in which we have been hurt before, even if the injury has healed. If we have been betrayed, it hurts to trust again. If we have been rejected or abandoned, it hurts to open up again. If we have failed before, it hurts to dream again. If we have gotten lost along the way, it hurts to venture out again. But this is the memory of pain, it's not reality. There's nothing inflicting pain.

Remembering the pain creates anxiety and prevents us from enjoying new experiences. Remembering the pain keeps us in fear, angry, sad, hurt, frustrated, stuck and feeling pain. Today is a good day to let go of the memory of pain. Release it in order to move forward. Replace the memory of pain with the memory of Spirit in which you are healed, loved and prepared for everything that comes your way.