How are you?
For a very long time, I was wondering why so many enlightened masters suffer with terminal diseases?
My point of view was that diseases cause suffering. Fair enough! Or is it?
A few years back, when I heard a Buddhist lecture, I finally understood that pain is different from suffering. Pain is physical. Suffering comes from mind’s interpretation of the situation. For eg, if you are injured in an accident, you have physical pain. If you accept the situation as it is without any resistance, you just have physical pain. If you interpret the accident as unfair and unjust, then you get to wallow in self pity that leads to powerlessness/hopelessness which creates suffering.
I finally understood that these masters were not suffering. They were perhaps in pain or they may even had ascended beyond the pain but they did not make it any significant. That’s liberation.
Gary Douglas, Founder of Access Consciousness, says, “What you avoid controls you”.
If there is no judgement as good or bad about anything that shows up in life, would there be any suffering?
Someone asked a Saint, “Why do you get sick often in spite of your dedication to God?”
She replied, “I do not see my sickness any different from God. I see God in everything.”
Well, if you are agnostic, you can interpret her statement as, “I am grateful for every experience that comes my way.”
Some time back I had tooth ache and I applied my energy healing tools to change that. It went away swiftly but came back. This time, instead of fervently struggling to get rid of it, I chose to be with it and allowed myself to experience the core of the pain. Honestly, I was able to experience the difference between pain and suffering. The pain was just experienced as a body sensation. There was no suffering. An eye opening experience, truly.
I have suffered a lot in my life before; have been an embodiment of sadness for so many reasons. However, now I can say with conviction that we can make a choice not to suffer. Does that mean I am beyond suffering? Not at all. Still, the emotional idiot in me lurks around but that idiot has also found some practices to chip away the self-inflicted suffering one tiny peg at a time. Here is this idiot’s guidelines to get out of suffering:
1) Let go of all the resistance.
What you resist persists. If something has already shown up in your life, there is no point in resisting it. Instead of resisting, if you simply allow it to be there, you’ll have more energy to change it as you desire. When you resist something, you are attaching yourself to it and invest huge energy in the fight. It’s like energizing what you are fighting. Allowance makes you calmer and your actions will be from clarity rather than resentment.
2) Let go of the tendency to label anything as good or bad. (No judgement)
Judgement is a killer of possibilities. When you judge something as good or bad, you choose to ignore the other side of the coin and miss the holistic picture. Everything can be a contribution when we choose to see things as they are without a smoked glass called judgement.
“The moment that judgement stops through acceptance of what it is, you are free of the mind. You have made room for love, for joy, for peace.”
― Eckhart Tolle
3) Be grateful for the experience – whatever it is!
Gratitude is a game changer. There is something you can be grateful about each experience. There is always another dimension to everything how much ever bad and ugly it seems. Find that and be grateful. A tiny bit of gratitude makes a huge difference as it opens up more space within you which is an invitation to abundance.
4) Be in the moment
“Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have”
― Eckhart Tolle
Past is a memory and future is a hope. All that’s real is the current moment. Action can happen only in the current moment. When you are present in the moment, you have the power to create the future you desire. Being in the past leads to resentment and depression; Thinking about the future leads to anxiety. Just be present here and now and sense the magic of life unfolding.
5) Be in allowance of other people’s choices.
Trying to control the experience of our loved ones leads to immense suffering. We think that it is our responsibility to make them happy. We try to control their experience to be “positive”. However, you can never control some one else’s experience as each individual experiences life differently. There are people who enjoy pain. Just because you don’t like pain, if you try to prevent pain for them, perhaps, they will be miserable and it can only lead to suffering for you and the other person. Control never yields harmony. In allowance resides greater love.
Allowing them to experience their lives according to their choice will not only liberate you but will also show greater possibilities to other people.
By practicing these 5 principles, I have certainly made progress in getting out of suffering. It has not happened over night but I had to build my muscles slowly and steadily by practicing these principles consistently. It’s not difficult and well worth it!
By the way, I have put together an ebook of 50 questions that you can ask to change anything magically! To claim it, please click here.
I have put together some clearings to create infinite choices:
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What magic can we create together?
Infinite gratitude,
Nila/Nimi