Insight of the Week: There is Suffering and Then There is Suffering

There is suffering and then there is suffering.

There is suffering from the inevitable consequences of the unconscious choices we have made.

And then there is the suffering of the conscious choices we have made.

Once we become aware of how our unconscious choices caused our suffering most of us course correct and make the necessary shifts. Hence, our suffering fosters enlightenment because we gain insight into ourselves.

Conversely, some of us become aware yet choose to stay in suffering, settling in our current circumstances that we may not want, lying to ourselves because it’s easy, familiar (our comfort zone), and avoids any self-reflection, self-responsibility, and action. As such we eventually end up feeling regret, shame and/or guilt at some point and our life will prove unfulfilling, unhappy, and isolating.  We become emotionally bereft, disconnected from ourselves and others. Here, ego and fear have won out and we have bypassed any personal enlightenment and growth.  Further to note, employing the Martyr Syndrome as an excuse and justification to staying in an unhealthy situation is a form of spiritual bypassing that downward spirals and merely magnifies the above outcome.

How are you handling your suffering or “uncomfortableness”?  It’s always a choice regardless of circumstances.  The excuse of being “stuck” is an illusion of fear…fear of what it will entail to live the Life that you feel passionately about and called to.  Therefore, the question becomes: are you willing to see suffering as the tool and clue that it is, that somewhere you are out of alignment and need to shift/heal, or do you want to stay in avoidance deteriorating slowly each day and pretending you’re ok?