It seems to me we will inevitably experience some pain in life. And, to me, since we all are at least a bit ‘off’ in terms of knowing what we need to know, we WILL cause ourselves some pain in pursuit of something we desire.
But, to me, the ‘trick’ or ‘key’ is to realise that the painful experience is NOT what our usual ‘kneejerk’ reaction has us believing it is. In other words its not BAD.
A painful experience is NOT some sign that we are somehow UNDESERVING or UNWORTHY or INCAPABLE of having some good thing we want. Instead, it is an indication that our approach or beliefs ABOUT the wanted thing are somehow askew or out of alignment with us having the wanted thing.
For example, when we go after something we want, we may experience frustration, worry, anxiety, fear, doubt, rejection, humiliation or even physical pain or illness. But these painful experiences do NOT mean we cannot or are ‘not supposed to’ have what we want.
I believe PAIN is our internal guidance telling us we are ‘off course’ and need to make internal adjustments. And then, how can we know we’ve ‘internally adjusted’ properly? Again, by how we FEEL.
When we ‘adjust internally’ to get to where we feel some good or better feeling (calm, ease, forgiveness, peace, delight, wonder, self worth, well-being, ect) We can know by the experience of THESE feelings, that we are ‘back on track’ to having what we want.
BTW, another example of how pain is not BAD is the pain we experience when we fall and scrape ourselves. If not for the pain we might go on and leave the scrape unattended and have it turn into something worse. So, again, pain is NOT a bad thing. It’s simply a form of guidance.
So, in a nutshell, i suppose what i’m saying is, pain, fear, humiliation are not bad, so we need’nt try to deny or discount them. They are, in fact GOOD experiences, as they can guide us, just as much as good feelings (peace, joy, well-being) can. When responded to properly and appropiately.
Anything that anyone gives attention to, becomes true
