2022-03-25

Some thoughts on pain during the acupuncture session just now: There are different kinds of pain.

• The pain of discipline. -The pain of regret. -The pain of growth. These taste different. The pains of discipline and growth taste bittersweet.

The pain of regret tastes bitter.

As biological beings, we instinctively avoid pain but are drawn to pleasure.

We can train our minds to recognise sweet pain as pleasure, so we'll seek it out.

If we indulge in the sweet pain of discipline and growth enough, we'll avoid the pain of regret.

Otaku know this. Gym freaks know this. It's an inside knowledge. To those outside the circle, those inside the circle seem to be crazy. Those on the inside of the Fifty Shades of circle understand this.

Create a new relationship with pain

To succeed in life, overcome your passion avoidance instinct by subverting it. And how you subvert it is by recognising that some pain is bittersweet, not just bitter.
Bittersweet, which means it is sweet. Like dark chocolate, like black coffee, like certain herbs. Seek those out, embrace bittersweet pain. If you indulge in that kind of pain enough, the bitter kind of pain will naturally leave your life because it has no place to find a home in your life. That's the pain of regret. If you embrace the pain of growth and discipline, you'll have no place for the pain of regret.