Episode
[Free 1st Part] When Pain Warps Your Timeline
- Published
- Jan 21, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 2540
- Processing state
not_requested- Canonical source
- https://dttr.substack.com/p/when-pain-warps-your-timeline
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Summary
When Feeling Good Becomes the Goal Instead of the Compass Have you ever heard someone, maybe yourself, say “I checked, and my body said no.” When it comes to making an important decision? Larry and I were talking on our drive home after the Looking at 2026 call about a pattern we’ve seen again and again, not just in others, but in ourselves. When faced with decisions, even important ones, people often choose based on pain avoidance. The deciding factor isn’t what’s best long-term, but whether something feels comfortable or uncomfortable in the body. That choice feels reasonable. It’s also quietly costly. This will often evolve into a Catch-22 situation, always feeding itself into unending circles that have us spinning on our wheels and not getting anywhere. An example of these spinning wheels when we fall for the body decision making by avoiding pain is when the “higher” self will place us in super painful situations in order to shift us to do something else. Like poverty and bad credit ratings, for example, used to stop us from a shopping addiction. Left field! I know. The Body Is Brilliant — and Not in Charge I’ve spoken at length about why body-based resonance and dissonance are not enough to “truth” something even though our body is excellent at finding what is true and what is not. Sensations and emotions can be influenced by unconscious programs, fear responses, or the body’s own agenda. However, even though the body is excellent at seeking comfort and relief and we can use that tendency to find what is true from what is false, the body is not designed to evaluate long-term outcomes that include life changes. The body is designed for the here and now comfort cue, illustrated sometimes by the saying, short term pain for long term gain used to push through discomfo…