As a person living with chronic pain you may find yourself thinking about difficult questions about the meaning of your pain and suffering:
-Why am I having to deal with all this pain?
-Am I being punished?
-What’s the point of living if I must put up with pain and suffering for the rest of my life?

These questions can be tied to even more fundamental questions about meaning that have been traditionally addressed by religion & spirituality — some call them ‘questions of ultimate meaning’:

-Does our existence have any inherent meaning?
-Why is there such suffering in this life?
-Is this the only life we live, or are there past lives and futures ones?
-Is there life after death? Is there a higher power? (Or to paraphrase Shakespeare) Is there a divinity that shapes our ends?
-If there is a higher power, a caring universe, or a loving god, why don’t they seem to care about me?

This is NOT a webinar about religion. In this two-part series, we will explore the innate spirituality of everyday life, how that may have changed since you began living with chronic pain, and how you may want to reframe your concept of spirituality going forward. Everyone is invited. No one is excluded. No spirituality is ‘better’ than another. This webinar series, in addition to trying to answer the questions mentioned above, also asks two important questions of relevance to spirituality & chronic pain: “What story do you live in?” And “how does the story you live in help you to live better with your pain?”

Our presenter, Wesley Buch, was an ordained minister and is currently a registered psychologist who practices in the area of clinical and rehabilitation psychology. Wes is also currently on the ordination track for United Church of Canada.