Pain

Most of us hate to be in pain.  Perhaps--sometimes-- pain can teach us what pleasure never could.  Pain forces us to be acutely aware of the present moment.  In pleasure, we are there, but hoping it will never end instead of wishing for the end, as in pain.  Either way, there is an immediate focus on need.
I twisted my ankle today because I was not in the present moment.  There was an early holiday parade in the city, and I was steaming about having to walk all the way around it instead of through it.  Pop.  Ouch.  Limp, limp.  Every step I took to my hostel from that moment was magnified by the pain in my ankle.  I almost laughed at the lesson.  Suffice to say, from that moment and still yet-- I am painfully in the now.