The Origin of Your Pain & Suffering

Let’s face it. Part of life is awesome, and part is kind of terrible. There are two sides to everything – life/death, happiness/sadness, joy/pain… That list could go on forever. And as humans, we experience all of those things throughout our lives. But you can begin to take back a little bit of control when it comes to the not-so-fun side of life. Of course, tragic events breed sadness – when we lose someone close to us, we can’t help but grieve, and that’s okay.  It’s healthy to grieve. That’s not really what I’m talking about here. What I’m talking about is the suffering we CAUSE ourselves when things don’t go our way – we lose a job, fight with a friend or spouse, break an arm… The reason we suffer far more than we need to in these types of circumstances is because we live with the expectation that things should always be good. We carry on just fine until something doesn’t go our way, then we stay awake at night, cry, feel frustration, anger, resentment… Instead of saying to ourselves, “This is just that other side of life, my friend.” Things are going to be awesome part the time, and they’re going to suck the other part. This is what we signed up for when we were born 🙂 Give this a try for me…if you can practice releasing the expectation that things should always be good and go your way and say to yourself “this is part of life” next time they don’t, see how much different you feel. Expectation leads to disappointment and suffering far more than the events themselves. We should still have a positive outlook on life…I know I do…but let’s be realistic in knowing that not everything will go our way. Curious to hear your thoughts on this one.

Heather Binns