Let's wind the clock back to the mid 90s:

In 1995, the British Medical Journal (sounds like a hoot) told the story of a construction worker who, while trying a parkour move worthy of Daniel Craig in Casino Royale, jumped onto a plank of wood and landed straight on a 7 inch nail.

Ouch!

This bloke was carted off to A&E in absolute agony and given a cocktail of drugs to help numb the excruciating pain in his foot. 

When a doctor cut through the chap’s boot to have a closer look at the damage, guess what he found?

The 7-inch nail was lodged between two of the guy’s toes.  He was completely unharmed.

The nail hadn’t even pierced his skin, let alone sliced through any flesh or bone!

So what to make of this?

What to make of the fact that someone’s pain can appear so real – and not just appear real, but for all intents & purposes actually be real – when the cause of that pain is completely made up?

I don’t know about you, but for me it raises some interesting questions around the whole nature of pain.

In particular, to what extent pain (physical, mental, emotional and so on) is a product of our own creation, rather than an intrinsic reality.

And, even more to the point, how much of our lives we spend trying to treat “pains” that we've created ourselves, even if unknowingly.

All food for thought.

Something else to think about:

Where did this guy's pain come from?

Clearly he thought he was in pain because the nail had pierced his foot. 

One glance at the look of horror on the faces of his construction worker chums, the wailing sirens and flashing blue lights of the ambulance, the oh-so-serious demeanour of the paramedics and the cocktail of drugs he was doled out all added to the illusion that there was something seriously wrong.

No wonder the “wounded” builder thought he was in agony.

And it was these thoughts, and not the nail, which led to those agonising, painful feelings.

All this raises an extraordinary question:

What if pain really is just thought in the moment?

If this is true (and I’d say there’s more than a smidge of truth in this) then getting clearer on the nature of thought – where thoughts come from (and don’t come from), what they mean (and don’t mean) and how to relate (and not relate) to them – strikes me as a worthwhile use of anyone’s time.

And, I cannot overstate how doing this myself has helped to ease some of the pains I felt for months (and even years) of my life.

So, there’s that too.

If any of this hits home, here’s one way to explore further:

https://waitinglist.followingfulfilment.com

That’s all for today.

- Tom