The Profit of Pain

We have all experienced the death of a loved one, the heartbreak of loving someone who doesn’t love you back, debilitating sickness or a various variety of accidents. We feel hard done by and wonder “why me”? We think that to have gratitude for these trials is a vocation relegated to the likes of Mother Teresa. But go back and examine your life, ask some questions. Where did your growth come from? Where did the will to move forward originate? What was the impetus for your journey? Painfully memorable life events are the very foundation upon which success is built.

My first painful experience was my grandmother’s death. She was my consolation, my fun, my soul mate. To me, she was the only one who listened and the only one who cared. My father was always busy and my mother was preoccupied with her own insecurities. Another one of many occurrences was as a young adult, my first true love, who I would have married and devoted to; left me for another.

A long ago bus ride resides crispy clean in my memory. I can still feel the hard edges of this unexpected gift. An old tattered version of a book called ‘The Tao of Meditation’ was left on the seat of a rickety bus and I was the fateful beneficiary. This first foray into the benefits of meditation changed my life. I clung to the practice and growth of meditation for all I was worth. Doing this allowed me to handle the past trauma and all the future challenges I was to face.

Discovering the heavenly solace and unconditional love in a relationship with my first horse was the comfort I longed for. But alas, I was challenged again and poor Rocky had a condition known as Ringbone. In addition, his shoulders were irreparably out of alignment, his digestive system was riddled with problems and he was in a constant state of discomfort. He was like many; a horse with ‘issues’ destined for the glue factory.

Fortuitously, I was equipped with a meditative practice allowing access to inner peace and instead of succumbing to despair; I went about inventing a treatment for this nasty condition. My mandate was to make Rocky more comfortable so that we could continue the joyful rides we shared in the forest.

Several years later, I was the proud owner of a champion horse, but when I got her home, she showed symptoms of lameness indicating her feet were very uncomfortable. Examination of the problem was inconclusive until I stumbled on the obvious. The traditional practice of nailing metal horseshoes onto horse’s feet is a profound mistake. We do it only because we always have and this convention is ruining the integrity of the natural hoof. I couldn’t stand to lose this spirited mare so again, set out to discover a way to improve comfort for horses.

I now have a thriving business producing patented boots for horses which take the place of metal horseshoes and provide unprecedented comfort, as well as therapeutic saddle pads to sooth the negative effects of saddles and riders. My company is called Cavallo Horse & Rider Inc. We have distributors in 18 countries, a beautiful office in the country and a fantastic quality control team in our offices in China and Taiwan. I am fulfilled and happy doing what I love and to top it off, I have just married again. I’ll call him Mr Wonderful because he is available to me and open for any conversation, has a heart full of love and a great sense of humour.

I would not be learning much from this delightful place, if it hadn’t been for the pain I experienced getting here. I work my day in gratitude. Some tasks are tiresome and the business is indeed challenging. But I appreciate the tests and face up to painful situations because I trust there will be a lesson at the end. And it gets better because now I see the occasional glimpse of clarity in purpose, understanding that the lesson can be learned even during the experience. We don’t have to wait until it’s over. The profit of pain is there to be claimed anytime.