By Sharon Murra-Kapon/south news editor

Pain, an unpleasant physical sensation or emotional distress, often seems inevitable.

It doesn’t always have to be bad or predictable. It can help us grow, adapt and stay alive. Making good decisions can help us avoid some pain.

As children grow, parents teach them what is dangerous or safe, but they must experience these factors on their own. Doing so develops their awareness.

We learn to protect others and ourselves through painful situations, whether physical or emotional.

The more people experience physical pain, the better things they create. For example, special shoes were created for people with health problems; improved medicine is available to cure diseases that were mortal in the past; new industrial and agricultural tools were designed for a safer work environment.

Emotional pain can help refine our attitudes. Learning to interact with people who think or act differently could be painful, but it keeps our minds open.

Emotional pain is harder to deal with because we can’t see our feelings, and many times they mix, creating confusion.

Many things hurt, but rejection hurts the most. When our affection, personal style or ideas are rejected, we react or shut down, but it still hurts.

Instead of growing bitter about painful emotional situations, we should question ourselves to see if we can avoid pain. “Did my anger provoke an argument that I now regret?” “How can I approach this situation better?” Analyzing our actions with honesty is a good way to start. 

Decisions we make often involve other people. Even grudges that no one knows about flourish into bitterness and harsh reactions.

We don’t have to be people pleasers, but using rational thinking and avoiding too many assumptions can help us react less negatively to problems.

Besides, we have the ability to make anything a positive or negative experience. In an online BBC News article, Dr. Robert Coghill from Wake Forest University said pain needs to be treated with more than pills because the brain can powerfully shape pain.

Dr. Beverly Collette, president of the British Pain Society, said in the same article that most people who work in pain clinics use cognitive therapy to help their clients manage their pain better.

In fact, positive thinking helps people deal with physical or emotional pain. Let us not be led just by appearances or give up, but use all the potential we were created with.