The Formula: Reclaiming Present from Pain Body
The Formula for Reclaiming Your Present: Moving Beyond Trauma and Pain
Step 1: Recognize the Pain Body First things first—understand the concept of the pain body. The pain body is the accumulation of all the emotional pain, grief, trauma, and suffering you’ve ever experienced. It’s like an internal record that replays past hurt, often in ways that feel as real and present as if they’re happening now. Triggers can activate this pain, pulling you back into old patterns, thoughts, and emotional loops.
Step 2: Notice When You’re Over-Identifying with Pain Once you’re aware of the pain body, the next step is to notice how and when you identify with it. Are there times when you feel like your past defines you? Do you find yourself replaying old hurt or seeing the world through a lens of past suffering? When we over-identify with pain, we tend to view ourselves as victims of our past rather than participants in our present. Catch yourself in these moments, and simply notice without judgment.
Step 3: Reclaim Your Power by Coming into the Present Take a deep breath, and ground yourself in the now. Ask yourself, What is actually happening in this moment? Look around. Notice your surroundings. Feel your body. The present moment is rarely as filled with threat or suffering as our minds might lead us to believe. Instead, it’s often filled with potential—potential to connect, to breathe, to feel calm, to experience joy. Right here, right now, you have control over how you choose to respond. Reclaim this power by recognizing that, in the present, you are safe, whole, and capable.
Step 4: Choose Your Focus—Strength and Resilience Rather than focusing on what happened or what could go wrong, choose to focus on your strengths, your resilience, and the life you want to create. You’ve survived your past, learned, and grown from it. Now, let that be the foundation upon which you build rather than the weight you carry. Choose to identify with the part of you that is strong, resourceful, and present, rather than with the echoes of pain that live in your memory.
Step 5: Set Intentions and Expand on the Positive With your power reclaimed and your focus clear, set small intentions that align with the life you want to live. What can you do today that brings joy, calm, or connection? What already exists in your life that you’re grateful for? Expand on these elements by intentionally nurturing what’s good, meaningful, and positive. Every time you focus on the present and choose to embrace your strengths, you take one more step away from the pain body and one step closer to a life lived with presence and purpose.
The Formula in Action
Recognize the pain body and understand its role.
Notice when you’re over-identifying with pain or past hurt.
Reclaim your power by grounding yourself in the present.
Choose to focus on your strength, resilience, and what you want to build.
Set Intentions and expand on the positive already in your life.
It’s a practice. Some days will be harder than others, and that’s okay. But with each step, you’re reclaiming more of your life from the pain body and opening up to the fullness of what the present has to offer. Here’s to the journey of reclaiming your power and living a life rooted in the present!