I was in the car this morning, listening to the radio at 6:40 a.m. my time, 8:40 a.m. Eastern. That’s exactly where I was and what I was doing 11 years ago today.

On the radio this morning, I heard, “The first plane hit at 8:46 Eastern and we will have a moment of silence to remember”. I almost changed the station. Instead, I distracted myself with thoughts of what I had to do, and then… everything was quiet and immediately tears welled up in my eyes. I swallowed them.

And then I let them fall. I felt my pain. I felt your pain. I felt their pain.

We spend so much time, money and energy trying to mask our pain. Anything, not to feel.

• We stuff our pain with food.
• We shop our pain away at the mall.
• We hide from our pain online.
• We medicate our pain.
• We change the subject of our pain.
• We drug and drink our pain away.

“We are the most in debt, obese, addicted, 

and medicated adult cohort in US history.” – Brene Brown

This mini-mission gives you permission, and even more, it begs you to feel your pain. Feel the pain of today, yesterday and maybe tomorrow. Feel it.

Let the pain from tragic events, childhood memories, broken hearts, and disappointment wash over you. Admit regret, shame and embarrassment. Cry for loss and hug your discomfort.

Food, pills, shopping, or your drug of choice will not heal your brokenness. You might look put together. You may even feel better, but your pain will continue to do damage. Your pain will be evident in the way you treat yourself and others, and in how you let people treat you.

Feel your pain and offer hope to your hurting heart. Feel your pain and let the healing begin. Once you feel, admit and embrace whatever it is that hurts so much, you can ask for help, fix what you can, and then dig in to living better and loving more deeply.

Only when you feel your pain will you know how to let it go. Only when you feel your pain can you embrace the joy, love and happiness that you deserve.

For more experiments to simplify your life, read Mini-missions for Simplicity. It’s available on the Amazon Kindle store, but you don’t need a Kindle to read it. Kindle books can also be read using the Free Kindle Reader App for your Web Browser, PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone, BlackBerry, or Android.