Animals sometimes get thorns lodged in their paws and it hurts bad. Not knowing exactly what is causing the pain, they are out of sorts and snappy, even dangerous. And unable to express the depth of their pain, they react.
Humans do this too. Sometimes a physical pain causes us to feel out of sorts. Sometimes an emotional or spiritual wound festers and we feel a malaise. It might be difficult to express the pain, its depth or its quality. We might even feel confusion. We feel a thorn in our paw and we want to salve it.
Awareness is the huge first step. Then comes acceptance of the situation, acceptance that we feel powerless to change anything about our pain, the cause of it, the circumstances we find ourselves in, and acceptance that we are exactly where we need to be: learning a life lesson. Only then can we take the lesson to a practical level and move into action.
What can we give ourselves while we’re waiting for a thorn to work itself out? Self-care. Gentleness. Time. Reaching out to others. Love. Patience. And above all, trusting that the pain will resolve for a greater good.