You have a personal tolerance to pain.
You can differentiate between hurting a little, and hurting a lot.
But, where does pain start?
You only react to pain when it hurts enough to get your attention.
All your life, you've raised your threshold of pain.
Was that the right thing to do?

Your pain threshold is the level where pain starts for you.
What is the minimum it takes before you say it hurts?
What about an itch? A sting?
Is that pain for you?
Your minimum sensitivity to pain is your pain threshold.

How easily does pain bother you?
We've all seen gurus who can walk on broken glass and burning coals.
No matter how much pain you can endure without blinking, your pain threshold remains the point where you perceive the smallest disturbances.
You wouldn't want to be sensitive only to very hot water; you want to feel any heat as soon as it appears.
Your pain threshold may change depending on external and internal pressures, such as stress or fatigue.

Are you a toughie or a softie?
● You're a toughie if pain seldom bothers you, and you take pride in not caring about your bruises.
● You're a softie if you're always in pain, and it stops you from doing some activities.
Nurses, who press needles through the skin of hundreds of patients, face a huge array of reactions from individuals who experience the same amount of pain.

● If you rate your pain threshold between 5 and 10:
You're a toughie, and pain doesn't stop you.
However, you may be missing signals your body is sending you.
● If you rate your pain threshold between 0 and 5:
You're a softie, and you perceive anything that annoys you.
However, you may be letting the pain overpower you, and not taking the steps to find out why it's hurting, and not eliminating the causes.

Pain is a defense mechanism that stops animals from destroying their bodies.
It shows you where the problem is, and prompts you to do something to stop it immediately, if you can.
It reminds you not to repeat the actions that led to the pain's arrival.

A threshold is an intensity that must be exceeded for a reaction to occur.
In the case of pain;
● you acknowledge what is above the threshold and
● you ignore what is below it.

Small irritations, such as itches and low-level pain, will keep on growing and worsening all your life.
Your worst aches and pains started out as minor discomforts, but you disregarded their signals.

Whether it be an itch, an irritation, or a sharp pain, you shouldn't react by taking painkillers.
You're supposed to promptly explore the location with your nail.
The aching spot is sometimes easy to find, but, most often, you'll have trouble pinpointing its exact position.

Pain is never welcome.
You try not to let it bother you.
You go through your activities despite its presence.
You take pain killers to alleviate it.
Without realizing it, you are continually raising your pain threshold.
At least you have peace until it's reached.

You're in charge of your body.
You want to be immediately informed of the slightest abnormality or dysfunction.
If you ignore low level sensations, you may miss vital signs that are important for your health.
You want to be alert to any sign or indication your body may give you.
Having a high threshold makes you deaf to your system's signals.

Low-intensity pain is a warning.
It should be taken seriously, and analyzed logically.
Actions to prevent it from increasing and to stop it should be taken immediately.
You want to be more sensitive, and lower your pain threshold.
However, for people who already experience significant pain, this idea is not appealing.
They reason that, if they lower their threshold, the pain they are currently experiencing will worsen.
This is not the case.
Being attentive to low-level pain won't make the acute pain you feel any worse.

You want to lower your pain threshold so that you feel pain you normally ignore.
The idea is to address any irritating locations before they become truly painful.
You want to know where you will ache tomorrow, so you can take action today.
There is no complex method, it's just a question of changing your habits.
Instead of avoiding thinking about your pain, you want to focus your attention on it.
You constantly ask yourself; "Where does it hurt right now?".

Whenever you feel anything strange on your skin, you should immediately move your hand to the location, and explore the area with your finger and nails.
● If you find an insect, some debris, or an injury; act accordingly.
● But, if you can't find the cause of your irritation; it's the skin itself that is aching, not what is beneath it.
● Your skin is folded all over, but it's the intersections between the folds that cause the irritation; the fold crossings.
● Press your nail directly into your itch or pain.
● Apply pressure on the skin for a few seconds.
● Repeat until the itch or pain is gone.
Every time you do this, you relieve and diminish the tension inside the aching fold crossing.
The following videos will get you going:

The pain is in the skin - Video

Human grooming rediscovered - Video