Truth be told, I believe we do the same thing to ourselves emotionally, although it is far less obvious. Completely without awareness, we attach ourselves to mental positions and get stuck there. Our rigidity creates pain and tension, but we don't know how to correct it because we don't know where it came from or how it happened. We suffer our emotional discomfort no less than we suffer a stiff neck; as hapless victim; as one who has been wronged.
Although time and loving attention to the problem are the only guaranteed correctors I know of, we still want to get angry at our physical aches and pains as if that might help. And emotionally, it's more subtle, but essentially the same. We get angry at something external that we think has caused our suffering. We point the finger. We blame others. We blame our pillows and our beds. They are contributing factors, but not, I think, the ultimate cause.
We must take responsibility for the way we find ourselves on any given day. It is us. We are the source of both our injury and our healing. We have pushed ourselves too hard, or become consumed with catastrophic thinking, or simply fallen asleep in a position that has wrenched us. Resisting whatever the facts are only increases the discomfort. Let's accept where we are today. If we are in pain, let's acknowledge it and treat it with kindness and compassion. Let's not feel irritated or vengeful. Let's accept that it will pass and do the best we can to be loving with it as long as it stays.
I accept where I am today. I do not struggle against what is. If I am in pain, I experience the pain. I have love and compassion for myself, and I trust the process of my life.
