Are You in Pain?
Seneca has the answer
Pain is in the mind. Whether it’s physical or mental illness, the pain we feel is just electrical signals sent to our brains. A wise man can control his mind. Thus, he can control his pain. What sorts of thoughts allow a person to change their feeling of pain?
“Provided that one’s thinking has not been adding anything to it, pain is a trivial sort of thing. If by contrast, you start giving yourself encouragement, saying to yourself, ‘it’s nothing—or nothing much, anyway — let’s stick it out, it’ll be over presently’, then in thinking it is a trivial matter you will be ensuring that it actually is” (Seneca’s Letters to Lucilius, LXXVII)
If you don’t give your pains more meaning, and you realize they’re nothing but electrical signals in your brain, you have no more pains. We create a lot of our suffering ourselves.
Marcus Aurelius, the former Roman Emperor and Stoic, wrote about this in his personal diary, Meditations, as well.
“If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself but to your own estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.” (Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations)
I don’t want this to be an unhelpful, theoretical, piece - I know it’s not a novel idea that pain is mental. Growing up playing sports, I heard it a lot and I’m sure you have too. But I want to be better than that annoying coach you had - here’s some practical tips Seneca has for using your brain to ease pain:
Remind yourself that after the pain is over, “there may be pleasure in the memory of even these events one day” (Vigil, Aeneid). This is a common theme in life. Think back to that project or competition you worked on tirelessly. It was brutal for every hour, but then after it succeeded, you developed fond memories of the work.
If you back away from the weight of the pain, it will only get heavier. Each time you take your foot off the gas in your fight with the pain, you lose ground that you inevitably need to make up later. Keep pushing.
When you complain that the pain is too great ask yourself, what would be the point of courage, if only to bear pain that is NOT severe. Heroes are heroes not because they conquer small pains, but because they conquer pain so severe that most people couldn’t.
Question of The Day
How do you endure pain?
Your Biggest Fan,
Noah “BigNerd” Sochaczevski
PS. Letter LXXVIII is a letter I have read many times before and will continue to read many times more. If you like having philosophic “one-liners”, this is great for that. It also connects many ideas of pain and pleasure, relating them to the greater questions of life and death. This article is just a small piece of the knowledge Seneca shares in the letter.
PPS. If you want to read this letter but don’t have the book, buy it. Invest in yourself. It costs less than one drink at the bar and lasts way longer.