befriending pain:

pain is the unwelcome partner in life.
as such
you should be friendly to pain
since pain is going to be there
with you
till the door steps of your death.

it's not to say
go indulge in pain.
it's not to say
go fall in love with pain.
it's not to encourage either
go hate pain
or run away from pain.

it is just a friendly reminder that
be a good friend
to the pain
which
will be with you
all your life.

in a way
he is commited to you.

learn what you can from him,
about him,
and listen empathetically
to him.
listening alone
can do you
a body of good.

do not pay too much attention to
what he does to your feeling.
that's not good.
do not conceptualize him either,
like,
what kind of a fellow he is.
pain
is like a person
and
is to be experienced
as a whole,
through
understanding him.
like in most cases
understanding comes from
listening to what he has to say
even
what he says
will hurt you.
if you are friendly to him
you will endure
and overlook the hurt
so you will understand him more.

that's how
you should be firendly
to the pain.

just like most good friends
if you endure and endear him,
he can lead you
to a higher level
of wisdom
called
the Enlightenment
by the Buddhists.

palms together
deep bows,
des/boo-ngoh