A friend of mine is covered head to foot in tattoos. Of course, they didn’t get all of those tattoos at one time. It began with one small design and over time grew into something that covers their entire body. 

My friend says a lot of people ask, “Isn’t getting a tattoo painful?” And my friend says, “Absolutely. But it’s limited and short-term. I know there’s going to be an endpoint, so I learn to manage the pain of the moment, because it’s contained. Then, maybe I can manage pain in other areas of my life more mindfully too.”

Although I’ve always admired people who walk around with art on their bodies, I hadn’t really thought about tattoos as a spiritual practice. But growing in the way we receive and respond to painful moments is deep spiritual work. I asked my friend if it works. “Does your experience of getting tattoos really affect the way you handle other painful things in your life?”

My friend relayed that for a long time, it didn’t. It was just about tolerating the pain of getting the tattoo, and then being pleased enough with the result that they went back to extend the art. But recently, my friend was in a car accident. They got a mild concussion, but were mostly OK. When the paramedics showed up, though, my friend was starting to have a panic attack. Something in their body memory of being in the temporary pain of getting a tattoo kicked in, and they intuitively started intentional breathing and regulating themselves. The panic attack subsided.

I considered for a moment the extent of the tattoos on just about every available inch of their bodies. It took an awful lot of visits to the tattoo parlor to get to a point where that practice of responding mindfully to painful moments manifested itself. One tattoo didn’t make a difference. But a body covered in tattoos had a meaningful benefit. At least in one traumatic moment.

I wonder what our bodies would look like if our spiritual practices left visible remnants. If we meditated once and decided it didn’t work for us, that might not even leave a mark. If we engage mindfully in practices that center us and ground us in our life-affirming values, we might look painted from head to toe in beautiful artwork. I suspect most of us would be somewhere in between.

For my own life, I want my spiritual practices to be like my friend’s tattoos. A lukewarm or haphazard occasional practice probably won’t make much of a difference in how I show up in traumatic or stressful moments. But if I’m coated in consistent, vulnerable connection to inner wisdom, chances are that I’ll have easier access to that connection when I experience something painful. 

What about you? If your spiritual practices left visible evidence, would you be a walking masterpiece of divine connection? And if not, what would have to change for it to be so?    

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