Pain in inevitable. Suffering is optional!

Pain in inevitable. Suffering is optional!

That is a biggie.

That is a huge subject.

That is an enormous topic to cover.

What would you choose?

What would you pick?

What would you decide?

Where would we start?

How about with the saying that we always have a choice!!

We always have a choice in any given situation, in any given circumstance, at any given opportunity, at any given time, in every given place.

We can always decide our response to any given situation.

Not to react or overreact, yet be proactive and profound.

What our response is going to be?

Are we going to be saddened by the occasion, by the situation, by the circumstance, by the whole concept OR are we going to look a fear into an eye, and face it, face the challenge, look and search for the learning lesson that is always there for us to understand.

In life, the good news is (!) we are going to get hurt, we are going to experience pain, we are going to experience suffering, and we are going to experience the struggling parts as well.

There is no way to miss on those opportunities, there is no way to go around it.

The only thing that matters here is what we are going to do about it, what our response it going to be, how we are going to respond.

There is a moment, between the circumstance and the action we are going to take. And that is exactly what I am talking about, that is exactly what I am referring to. And that very moment is all that matters to us and the people around us and those who depend on us.

Not to decide is a decision made in itself. Not to make a decision is a decision made in itself.

Are we going to give in and give out to the pain of suffering? Is the suffering going to win the war over us? Or are we equipped enough for this war? Do we have all the necessary tools for this war? What are we going to use? How are we going to respond? How are we going to react? Who or what are we going to bring along? What is our decision about the situation going to be? Who are we going to consider or what are we going to consider while making this decision? What or who would help us to decide?

Would you like to have a pain? You will have it. Like it or not. It is going to come, it is going to haunt you, it is going to teach you a lesson a two, it is going to try to be a friend with you, it is going to influence you in one way or the other.

Suffering, however, is our choice. We decide whether our decision is going to be based of fear or on a learning curve. We and only us is going to decide if we are going to suffer and if we are going to look for a solution out of the situation we find ourselves in. Suffering is optional. It is not the end all and be all thing. We have it in our hand and we are going to handle our hand in the best way possible given to us at the certain and given time, also.

Would you have any situations, any examples, any instances where you have used the pain you experience for a better part of you? What was the occasion and how did you handle it all?

On the less apparent note, would you also have a situation which you did not handle as well as you imagined you would have or wished the circumstance would be handled by you? What was the instance and who or what else was involved in it? How come you performed the way you did? Was it brutally not that well at all?

Seeing it from this point of view, with the knowledge at this time, with the resources at hand in this very place, would you look at the situation differently? What would you change? By stepping away from the entire concept and looking it through different set of eyes, as if through a different person, how would you decide now? Would your decision be based on a different set of questions or entirely different one? Would you ask someone for help this time? Or would you do it all alone again? Has much changed since then? What has changed and what has remained the same, the same as the things always have been?

So, your journey has not been a smooth one, right? You have experienced a few bumps here and there along the way, a bumpy road everywhere you possibly look, a slippery slope has become your nickname. How to go about getting out if this situation, how to go about getting out of the rut? The life was meant for more?

Could you look for someone who has done that and been there and thus advise you on a best possible approach and tell you not to panic and not to pack up your luggage yet? 

Is there such a person to you and for you available?

Or better yet, can you be this kind of person for someone else who desperately needs it? Have you enquired enough knowledge, enough know-how, enough expertise, enough self-confidence, self-analyzation, self-reflection, enough deep inner self work?

The life you lead is entirely in your hands, the reaction you hold toward any given situation that has been thrown at you along the way is all that matters and again, it is up to you what your stand is going to be. You cannot go back and redo the past but you can always make a new beginning. You can overwrite your story with the pencil in your hand that suits to you and only you and fits with your liking.

So I say No More Suffering!!!

 J

(1006 words)