Enjoy Your Suffering!
OK, not exactly enjoy it, but learn to stop and look around when the world as you know it seems to end.
The reality of this planet is that there is a lot of suffering involved.
You just need to put on the news for a minute to know that.
We all will have to deal with suffering if you haven't yet.
At some point, you will have to deal with death, breakup, destruction, failure, betrayal or any of the other types of suffering out there.
Yes, I get it, suffering sucks. Nobody enjoys it so many times we tend to miss the gold in this highway of hell they call suffering.
When pain happens we tend to wallow in our own self-pity and we want to distract ourselves from what we are feeling.
We want to move away from the pain instead of really feeling it.
If we would stop and evaluate the situation, then we would realize that pain and suffering is one of the greatest teachers and wisdom givers on this planet.
Some of the biggest periods of growth and learning for myself has been during times of suffering.
I have transformed myself in those times when things seemed hopeless.
I have build strength and courage.
I have mentally hardened myself for future suffering.
The lessons I have learned through pain and suffering would not have been learned through any other way.
It's in the dark corners of pain that little pieces of gold await you.
Next time something bad happens,stop, reflect and think about the situation.
Really let the pain flow into your system and then ask yourself the following questions:
- Why am I currently in this situation?
- Could I have done anything differently?
- What parts of myself do I need to look at more critically?
- What things do I keep on doing that I know are harmful to me?
- How can I use this situation to my advantage?
- How can I prepare myself so I am stronger and better when something similar happens in the future.
- Is there an opportunity in this bad situation?
When you start answering these questions you will find that it will lead you to answers that you might not like but will expose yourself in ways you haven't thought about before.
Humans are very bad at evaluating their own limitations.
We tend to think we are better than we really are.
We overstate our strengths and overlook our flaws.
This bad situation will give you a chance to shine a light on the parts that you didn't know existed or were too scared to look at.
The pain will force you to look in the mirror and not look away.
It will show the cracks and weaknesses that you have to fix.
You will realize that you have been driving your car with a broken tail light long enough and now you have to fix it, before you crash the car and kill yourself.
One last thing about pain. You are not special in experiencing it.
We all feel it at some stage.
We all have to feel the fire.
However, you can be different in the way you handle it and learn from it.
You can be different in the way you turn to yourself to deal with your issues and take full responsibility for them. It's easy to run to friends for help. And sometimes that's helpful.
But most of the time the real change happens when you face it alone, feel it alone so you can learn from the situation.
Alcohol,food, and drugs are also popular as an escape from pain.
It's so popular that there are millions of people hooked on these substances that ironically creates a thousand times more pain and suffering.
Substance abuse just brings the point back home.
Deal with your pain or you will feel more of it and miss the opportunity to learn from it.
So take ownership of your pain.
Make it yours.
Open that door and walk into whatever is behind it and learn.
