It is obvious that human beings suffer. I used to think that that was my lot in life. But, years ago, someone told and taught me that “Suffering is optional.”
Somewhere in between that observation, and living it, is a middle ground that beautifully holds the tension and exhilaration of how to answer and respond to our innate desire to live heaven on earth, both externally and internally. Putting that journey as both a priority and commitment allows you to co-create a life aligned with your Spirit – no matter what your circumstances may be.
We all know well the voices of the Monkey Mind, or ego, that tell us we can’t be this way, shouldn’t do that, don’t dare say “xyz” to someone, etc., for fear of reaction and rejection. We tend to forget that we’re born with a freedom and innate sense of unlimited possibility…a life of no limitations within us.
Yet, within our families and within our school experiences, that sense of “no limits” gets squashed, distorted, adapted, and compromised to the point that we often lose track of where the “real” us – our essence – begins and the “socially acceptable” us ends. In maintaining the latter, we get tired, confused, frustrated, self-doubting, self-judgmental, short-tempered, shut down, and disconnected. This effort ultimately wears us out, and the negative energies that can get so rampant leak out on our children (if we have any), on our colleagues, our spouses/partners, and back onto ourselves. This cycle is unenlightened – and optional – suffering, as opposed to the Buddhist sense of enlightening suffering.
A way I’ve learned to minimize, if not eliminate, that kind of repetitive suffering is to 1) realize how illusory it really is; 2) how much the Ego likes to have us believe the alleged reality of it, so that it keeps perpetuating its disempowering domination of our creativity & freedom; 3) hang out with people, teachers, and coaches who appear to get the cosmic joke and have transcended it; 4) create a team around you – personal and professional – that can support you in moving beyond your stuckness in suffering; and 5) try on devoting your life to using and giving your gifts and talents in the service of returning to, and remembering, your Divine, True Essence that you were born with. This is the Essence that never stops shining, emanating joy, and giving itself as an expression of love and freedom no matter what.
May seem easier said than done, right? To some extent, that’s true. Stay tuned to this blog in the next few days to learn about one way you can move more fully in this direction if you’re ready to choose the option of not suffering. In the meantime, try starting with simply choosing to notice, for one day as a starter, what’s going right in your life at the moment. Then, be grateful down to your toes for it.
