I have a particular interest in working with those experiencing chronic pain and for some years ran a project - the Speedwell Project - enabling individuals to explore how to ‘be’ in pain. The work of the project is not primarily about reducing pain levels – i.e. it is not pain management in the sense that the term is used by the medical profession. Rather it is about learning to live abundantly, even if pain or dis-ease is an on-going feature of life.

 

Confronted by such upheaval in their lives, individuals come face to face with some fundamental questions.  The ‘Why?’ or ‘Why me?’ type of question. Not to have answers, but to be willing to live the questions is a large part of the work. Carers may also find themselves experiencing similar questions and part of the work is to enable them to discover what their role is as a helper.

 

Taking responsibility for how things really are and living out of that, rather than how we might like it to be can be liberating, once an individual has faced their situation honestly.

 

One of the themes of the work is that of ‘meeting the pain’.  Many of those who live with a chronic condition spend much time running from it.  The challenge is to cease to run, to turn around and face the distress.  By doing so, it is possible to enter the distress, find the possibility of moving through it and to find a serenity and peace in the midst of dis-ease.

 

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