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AUSTRALIA
FROM THE HEART
    MEDITATING WHEN  YOU ARE IN PAIN
    Marie O’Leary, a meditator form Perth, Australia, has lived with chronic
    pain for many years. During a talk by Fr Laurence recently someone
    asked how to meditate when in pain. When Fr Laurence invited Marie to
    respond she spoke with an authority of experience. “When I am
    completely still during meditation,” she said, “I can go beyond the pain.
    And the stillness comes from complete attention to the mantra…”

    “Sickness and pain can make one very selfish and self-centred, as one
    homes in on oneself, fully believing that no-one else has pain to equal my
    pain. One can fully believe that because one’s sickness and pain is so
    awful, then one has the right to feel sorry for one-self, and that everyone
    else out there should recognize that right, and be spending their life upon
    this earth alleviating your pain. Something that can be extremely hard to
    bear, when one is sick and in pain, is the feeling that one has been
    abandoned by one’s loved ones. However, as I journey through my life, I
    see that those who love me are themselves suffering from my pain. They
    find it so very hard to cope with my pain, they can think of no way to help
    me, and that is why so often they stay away and fail to make contact with
    me. All my loved ones do love  me. Whenever I am with them it is quality
    time. They are good people.”

    “Fifteen years of meditating have, I feel, helped me to become less self-
    centred as it becomes increasingly clear to me that all people are sick
    and pain in some way. Not one person is free of trials and tribulations.
    One’s own pain can become a blessing, as in compassion one sees and
    hears the pain of others. Meditation has also taught me that the only way
    to find peace and, ultimately, justice is through forgiveness.”



    Marie O’Leary
    mtvol@bigpond.com
    Australia, February 2002