I woke up from a dream that I was in school, a college classroom. The professor was about to start announcing who had passed the test. Before he started talking, I knew I had not passed. He started with the people who had passed outright. Then he went on to the ones he had given the benefit of the doubt, and so had given passing grades. For me, there was nothing said, and no allowances made. I had not passed.

One day I walked outside for lunch and I noticed it. There was a complete freedom of movement in my body and absence of pain. I looked around and the sky was blue, the air smelled clean, the breeze was soft on my skin. In that moment, I had no unmet needs and no unfulfilled desires. The absences were so satisfying. I could have turned right around, walked back inside the building and continued on with my day, without missing a beat, even though I would have missed a meal.

Whenever I hear that expression, 'no pain, no gain,' it's like fingernails on the chalkboard. Or, for those of you who grew up after slate chalkboards were obsolete, it would be like Carrie Underwood singing Led Zeppelin: it's just wrong. For me, there is something essentially wrong with the concept that pain is a prerequisite for good.