The nail that didn't hurt until someone said so

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• The fall from the ladder

  In brief: Building the ablution block at Serpentine, he falls a long way when a fully extended ladder loses its footing and he gets caught in it. No…

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  I remember just years ago falling off a ladder in the corner of of ablution block when we were building it over in uh Serpentine. It was really a long fall. This is one of those very long ladders fully extended because uh it was um it was actually stupid thing to do. But nevertheless, he fell off the ladder, or rather the ladder just lost its footing and went all over the place and he got caught in the ladder. And you know, I was just amazed. I didn't break any bones at all. That night, I couldn't sleep very well because my hands were just I couldn't sleep at all because the hands were very, very painful. So, I went to the doctors the following morning to have an X-ray and say, "Nothing wrong there." I kind of knew there would be nothing wrong because sometimes just the way you meditate, you could look at a part of your body and heal it pretty quickly.

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• Drawn out of catatonia by kindness (a dream)

  In brief: As a young monk Ajahn Brahm dreams vividly of being tortured and retreating into a deep catatonic place for years, until a carer's kind…

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  I remember as a young monk, I had this dream once. The very powerful dream, which I remember it so well. And I remember just dreaming that I was being tortured. Don't know whether it is a past life, but it was very vivid, being tortured by people stabbing me and it hurts so much. And I went to a deep place inside myself, just to escape the pain. It's the only place I could find and it's a quite strange dream because I dreamt I was catatonic for years. Alive, but not being able to respond like in a coma. And what took me out was just these beautiful kind words, from a carer in some institution somewhere who was so kind that I trusted the world again, and allowed myself to be drawn out back into life. It's a weird dream. But what it actually showed me was the way that we hide because of the great pain of life, sometimes it gets so painful either physically or emotionally, we literally cannot take any more. We go into some sort of hiding place. Now for me, and that dream was just in a deep, deep catatonia where I would not respond to anything in the world. Or it could be just with the other protective mechanisms of unwilling to show any empathy and being violent, used to protect yourself. And the only way out was incredible kindness, which you know to me, and also in Buddhist ideas, is the power which nothing can resist. Incredible kindness, just drawing you out, from a place, a hiding place built by fear, coming out into the world, again, being alive again. It's only a dream but it was very meaningful for me.

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• Joke: everything hurts

  In brief: A man tells the doctor his whole body hurts: he touches his head, it hurts; his nose, his mouth, his belly, his elbow, his knees, his feet…

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  There was a person who who went to the doctor. And he said, "What's wrong?" And he said, "My whole body hurts. My whole body's in pain." "What do you mean?" said the doctor. "Well, I touch my head, that hurts. Touch my nose, my nose hurts That hurts. I touch my mouth, that hurts. I touch my belly. My belly's down here, sorry. I touch my belly Belly that Touch my elbow, that hurts. Touch my knees, that hurts. Touch my feet, that hurts." "Well, I know your problem. You've got a broken finger."

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• Hypnosis made the ice bath feel warm

  In brief: On a TV hypnosis show a man sat in freezing water convinced it was a warm bath and enjoyed it — illustrating how much of cold and pain is…

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  put a person in a freezing cold tub of water but they convinced this guy under hypnosis that it was nice and warm, just like a warm hot bath. You like going in warm hot baths this time of year? Really nice, warm and hot is very very nice. I don't usually indulge but I remember one of the people here we went to Bhutan together. When I walked up this mountain when you came down again, all your legs were very sore because really exerting yourself. I remember just going into the bath, a good excuse at last, a monk can have a hot bath. Lovely just to relax there. But in this particular case it was ice cold water. But they convinced him it was a warm hot bath and he was having a wonderful time in the cold icy water

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