I have been so blessed to do The Work with people with "chronic, serious, physical conditions" which they have experienced since childhood. One evening a woman called who was experiencing a lot of physical pain. She has had multiple sclerosis her whole life with at least 50 "serious" attacks, 2 of which took her several months to recuperate. We worked the thought "my body hurts".

Another man who had been suffering severe bouts pain in his legs since childhood worked the thought "The pain is back again."

Is it true? 
Many of us may not/would not even consider "pain" as questionable--and might even be angry at anyone that would suggest it is so. We see it as a physical fact, and do not recognize it is a thought.

I once heard Katie say that those who are in the greatest pain, seem to be the ones who can have the deepest most profound realizations. They have constant and huge motivation.

"My body hurts."
Is it true?
How could this possibly not be true?
I direct my attention to the "place" I believe I am sensing "pain".
I just did this as I was typing this.
I had a painful spot in my upper back.

What I am going to tell you now, 
you may want to reject and gloss over....
but my experience was 
that when I did this simple thing
the pain literally vanished.

I had the same experience after doing the work with the woman mentioned above. It was after 11 pm when I got off the phone with her. I had the signs I have had many times before that I was getting a migraine.
How do you react when you believe the thought "my body hurts" or "the pain is back again"?

I head straight for the Excedrine.
I see images of the past of me having a terrible headache and nausea and having to cancel my classes. I project it will last several days. I hate it. I feel helpless. I am depressed. I imagine the pain. I try to avoid it. I think I've got to head it off/prevent it. I am very fearful it will go on. There's definitely "something wrong with me".

4. Who would you be without the thought "it hurts"?

Normally I would have headed straight for the Excedrine. 
After doing the work with this woman I was so ready to "test it" (Katie always says...don't believe me...test it yourself)  So ...I took no Excedrine or any medicince. I got into bed and as soon as I started to feel the sensation in my head start,  I gave my attention directly to it without labeling it as pain. Just curious. Asking it: What are you without the thought/label of pain, and just noticing the sensation without trying to relabel it or attack it or change it or wishing it would go away. In other words I gave it attention without judging it as bad or resisting it .

And it simply vanished.

I repeated this throughout the night every time the sensation came to my awareness again. And every time it vanished. In the morning--no headache. End of story.

In the past, even with medication, headache still there. For days...with even more medicine, even with ice on my head. And me telling myself I have a migraine. This hurts. 

The woman above observed that when she rides her bike there is no pain.
The  man above noticed that while watching a tv documentary the pain simply did not exist.
"The pain was back again" just before he watched.

With the thought "the pain is back again", 
he felt defeated. 
He believed "I can't do anything to get rid of it.
I want to get out of the pain.
There is no end in sight.
I am not going to enjoy tonight.
I'm cursed.
He blamed himself..."if only I had taken better care of me..."
He felt alone and scared.
He noticed that he terrified himself.
He dwelled on the pain.

Without the thought, "the pain is back again"...
(it's hard to describe the experience I shared with him)
He was really kind of speechless.
Something so new happened.

He could no longer understand what "pain" was...

It was a "wow" space...

like truly seeing/wondering...well, what is "pain" if it just vanishes like that?

It simply doesn't exist when I am watching this documentary.
There is no thought of it.
It doesn't exist when I am sleeping.

It's simply gone.
Did it ever really exist...?

This is a man who has "suffered" from "pain" all his life up until this moment...

With the thought...terror...past images...proof of childhood pain and mother massaging his legs.

Without the thought...completely pain free

He said something like, "I have never experienced this before"...and there was a lot of silence as he really experienced his mind being blown...

the story 
of pain...
busted

A few weeks ago at our meetup for The Work, we worked the thought, "I shouldn't keep allowing my mind to go to ______." In this situation, it was referring to a boyfriend a woman had broken up with six months ago. (What is it for you, you shouldn't think about?)

Is it true your mind shouldn't go where it keeps going? No.
How do you react when you believe this thought? 
I'm disgusted with myself.
I tell myself :I'm wasting time.
I should be doing other things.
I'm a loser.
I have no control.
There's something wrong with  me....

Without that thought..."I shouldn't keep allowing my mind to go to _____."(and it does)
I feel much more peaceful.
I'm not resisting.
I feel compassionate toward myself.
I notice it happening and I am open to it...curious

Turned around..."I should keep allowing my mind to go to _______."
1. It feels much better than resisting.
2. It is accepting of my condition.
3. I have no idea how much longer I am going to think of ______. 
I have no control of what thought enters my "head".
4. I still have alot of painful feelings coming from uninvestigated beliefs that show up when I think about this person. I want to identify them so I can question them. They are coming for me. If they are coming for me I really want to write them down and welcome them--even thank them.
5. Every belief I am holding will come up again in my next relationship if I don't do The Work on it and find out the truth. 

Then we took it one step further to "how".
This is called a living turnaround.
I need to consider specifically how can I do that? What would it look like? 
"I should keep allowing  my mind to go to______."
1. I will keep a notebook by my bed at night so if I can't sleep, I can write down the thoughts that come.
2. I will set aside 10 minutes each day to specifically focus on this(person) and see what thoughts and feelings arise and write them down.
3. I will intentionally review all my experiences with this person, and make a list of situations to write worksheets on. I will specifically look for any tiny hurt or feeling of anger or disappointment.
4. I will allow  my mind to revisit this person in the specific moment while I inquire and observe and report.

This intentional looking feels completely different--like it's coming from a place of strength and wholeness. I am  pro-active, not reactive. I see these thoughts coming as a gift--an opportunity for freedom vs imprisonment.

I look forward to it and the fear is gone. The entire stressful situation is transformed to one of Loving Kindness.
My "enemy" is now my "saviour" showing me my beliefs.

The above work is a very abbreviated version of all we considered. It  was truly amazing work for me. I've had that thought so many times and had never done The Work on it. The following is part of a thank you note I wrote to the woman who offered us that thought to work:
 "Last night after the group I went for a walk  and I allowed my old boyfriend to just float through my mind  as I said the TA to myself ("I should keep allowing my mind to go to_____"). It was so fun.  I saw him just like floating through smiling, waving, doing summersaults--it just made me smile. Then I invited a couple of images of my son--one when he was looking at me shortly before he killed himself, saying "what are you looking at?" it has been a painful image. This time it really opened me to the depth of compassion in me-- how it's so good he comes to remind me of me in his state of mind, of how to be so gentle with myself and others  and just the huge feelings  of my heart reminding me of who I was then  and having compassion for her. I want him/that image to come and keep reminding me,  opening me to not leave this space. I also invited the image of him--after he killed himself and I got the interpretation that this is a symbol of what the ego wants to do to me--it's best advice to end pain  and how it doesn't work... that's me in a suicidal state of mind-- it's not bad or shameful-- just simply cause and effect-- if i think a hateful thought. So I just really wanted to let you know how helpful  your being at the  meeting and sharing your truth with me and the group was. You can be sure you are never alone in your thinking--the only one thinking it...   

"You should be thinking every thought you are thinking" sounds much truer, doesn't it?
It's a happening.
Thoughts come through. They come to pass...
It's when you make it personal--attach to it, that guilt is born. (Eckhart Tolle)

It's always here for you--for your freedom.

Amen, sisters and brothers! Any other way hurts...