Your comments had me thinking.
"I was a puppet and somebody else was always pulling the strings."
In this material world someone else is always pulling the strings. We are all controlled by the modes of material nature. Goodness, passion and ignorance are the true puppet masters of this world.
"Perhaps there are some experiences which never truly end.
They are there with you forever and in a strange way you are forever with them."
The mind is material, the senses are material and the body is material. Thankfully this material life is temporary. It is only the soul that will remain when the body is done. Pain does have a way of piercing your soul and illuminating your true eternal self. Thanks for such a nice contemplative post.