Are you done with suffering?
Covid, racial tensions, political unrest, opioid crisis, and hurricanes. What a great year huh? 2020 has certainly given us enough reasons to ask why bad things happen to good people. As I write this, Hurricane Genevieve is swirling wind and rain around our home. As I have written before, into every life a little rain must fall. I imagine this year we have been hit with more than our fair share of challenges, leading many of us to ask why this is all happening.
I have been asking this too, on a global and personal level. As I researched suffering, the same answers came back to me through religious and non-religious sources. The bad things that come into our lives, our struggles and challenges are not punishment, they are there to help us evolve and be the best people we can be. It appears we need pain, suffering and hardship to transform and become our best selves.
I know this is true for me. Every challenge I have had has resulted in me releasing a bit more ego, letting go of my rigid unhelpful thinking, and has made me more aware of how my actions and reactions affect others. These challenges took me out of my routine and made me look at life differently. Illness, loss, and natural disasters disrupt my normal and force me to look at what I believe and how I am living. Without these challenges, I would not have chosen to really look at how I was living my life. Without challenges, I would have never chosen to shed my armor so I could become vulnerable and honest with myself and others. Without this suffering, I would not have chosen to fully examine my life. That is how suffering is a gift.
In the past, I shared the story of a pinecone and how a seemingly horrible event like a forest fire, is actually the birthplace of new life. And so it is with us I believe. We don’t grow, we don’t evolve until our old self – our old beliefs, habits, and knee-jerk reactions – are ripped away. It is through the shedding of what doesn’t serve us that we can uncover, accept, and embrace what is better for us. Instead of living every day on autopilot, just going along one day after another doing what we have always done before and hiding from the realities of life, we can face our fears and embrace change. None of us want to be challenged, and yet, I believe, we all become better when we do.
The next time you are faced with a challenge instead of asking why me, ask what am I being asked to learn? How can this opportunity help me grow? What belief and way of being is no longer serving me and needs to be shed? When any living things stops changing and growing, it dies. Instead of fighting reality, refusing to change, and withering on the vine, step up to your challenge and learn how you can become better on the other side. And remember to be kind and considerate of others as our path to enlightenment often has to reveal our worst selves before we can shed them and become better. Hang in there!
