Pain, suffering, tolerance, acceptance
I used to think these are negative states of mind or rather put it as not a positive frame to be in. This is what I had heard, felt and learnt, until now.
But this has changed. I don't believe Pain, Suffering, Tolerance and Acceptance can be avoided. For me to progress in my journey to inner me - these are going to be major hurdles or milestones in my path to learning more about myself.
One unique realization is that Pain is mandatory and may be necessary?
I say this because pain makes me humble, pain grounds me, pain flattens the ego and sort of makes my soul malleable to whatever I might encounter. So I am not rigid and fragile but flexible and agile.
Pain can be of different kinds I think - physical pain (body aches, ailment, new diagnosis), emotional pain (not being able to meet expectations/ unrealistic goals/ comparison/ unlimited desires), relationship pain (strains in family bonds, in friendship, difficult working conditions & setup), social pain (lacking the everyday support system) and community pain (bad roads, traffic, dirty places and witnessing atrocities & wrong doings).
Can these be avoided? Can these be changed? Can these be prevented? I can wish and do all that I can - but my sphere of influence and do-ablility is limited. I have 2 choices - allow this pain to get to me - trigger actions that can lead to consequences, or I can choose to accept these pain as baby steps.
One pain at a time and allowing it to pass through you in a way it does not affect you. I don't think this is going to be easy. But with mindfulness and calm - we can become that lotus that never lets any water seep into it.
Simply thinking about Pain, churning these thoughts and writing it down gives me peace and clarity.
In the next post I will deal with Suffering. Is pain and suffering one and the same? We'll see...
