“Pain is
inevitable, suffering is optional,” reminds me of a popular 80s slogan, “You
can heal your life.” The way that I
interpret each leaves me unsettled. What
if suffering is not optional, and you cannot heal your life? Does that mean when you are overwhelmed by
suffering and unable to heal your self that you have failed?
Maybe,
like most things in life, it all comes down to semantics and meaning. For me, suffering, while not permanent, is
most certainly not optional. Suffering offers
a pathway to transformation. When I
consciously seek the catalysts of my suffering, I discover challenges that
bring the greatest life lessons.
With this
realization come opportunities for transformation and the means to move from
suffering to learning. As I begin to
learn, compassion flows; suffering alleviated. This life companion provides the
compost for my life garden. Without
suffering I would not be able to rise to the heights and plunge to the depths
of my soul. The deep anguish I feel is
not optional, but it is not permanent either.
Each of
us has many ideas of what healing is. By
definition, healing is a return to wholeness.
What if the “whole” doesn’t look like what we think it should? What happens when we believe healing is only
possible when we are restored to the original? (This is the definition of
cure.) “You can heal your life” may be
setting us up for the suffering triggered by the belief of our failure.
So, if we
live by these slogans, we do not fully engage in the transformative power of
life experience. If suffering is
optional, we risk casting aside the rich opportunities to grow and
transform. Without a true understanding
of healing, we lack the potential to become whole in ways that do not restore
us to the original.
Suffering
is the catalyst that brings us through the tumult and urges us to return to
whole. Through suffering we fertilize
the seeds that grow in the ground of our being and nurture our most authentic
self.
Knee deep
in the compost!
Vanessa
Vanessa
is an Intuitive, Community Builder, and Compassionista, and Author of Engaging
Compassion Through Intent & Action
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