Why Do We Suffer?
Words like affliction, discomfort, pain, distress, disability, misfortune, agony, and many more adjectives describe the experience of suffering. We open the newspaper and see thousands of people across the globe in desperate need of support, food, shelter, and safety. For millions, suffering is very real. There are other forms less obvious that wreak havoc on our human life besides depression, anxiety and mental illness.
Suffering can also be on a small level within us. It can be a feeling that washes over us. If there is someone we miss and lost through a break-up or death, suffering is inevitable. With unresolved pain from the past we might be reminded because of current circumstances, this too can bring us down.
The way we feel is determined by how much power we give our thoughts that take us down that path of hurt and heartache. There are tracks and pathways of thought that take us to those suffering places with all the memories. When we shift our attention and turn toward another thought and make the new thought more real than what was, a layer comes off the story. Use imagination to get from where the heaviness of what was to take you to an imaginary place of what could be. While it may never be a reality it could certainly be in your fantasy. Suffering is not something that has to be indulged in. It can be interfered with by thought moving in another direction.
The key element is willingness to give up the story. By not allowing the conversation of the past to be heavy, hard and toxic, you make a conscious effort in lifting the suffering off you. If there is a negative discussion in the mind or out loud it won't take the pain away, instead it is fed.
By staying aware of this small shift in perspective you begin a new track for a more peaceful existence and offer a gift to your soul's journey. Each time you overcome the anguish, anxiety or unhappiness that you feel over something a small step is taken toward living your potential for happiness. I encourage to discover your capacity and strength for peaceful living.
Sirah Vettese, Ph.D.
