As the Buddha said Life is Suffering, Folks! What did he mean by this? Did he mean 'this place is a rotten hell hole and we all come here to be miserable?' No, that doesn’t seem right. Or maybe he meant more mildly, that 'this place really sucks, but we have got to make due'. No, that doesn’t seem quite right either.

What I believe he means is that Suffering is an inextricable part of Life! It’s a part of our rich and wonderful human nature to suffer! So if we shun Suffering, we shun ourselves!

Okay. That makes sense. But why Suffer at all? Why don’t we just cut to the good stuff? The sunsets and picnics and all the times people acted in the ways we deemed acceptable and loving! Why don’t we just do that stuff all the time?

Well for two reasons. The first reason being we come here to learn about contrast or duality. This is not something that is necessarily as common or widely pronounced in other realms/worlds where can also have the experience we call life. Other worlds have their own special lessons to teach us. The Earth is a very unique and wonderful place because of its contrast! Because of its diversity! Not in spite of it. In order for us to be able to experience the tender joy of holding a newborn baby or kissing our lover for the first time, there needs to be contrast! We need the ICK and the OUCH! Without contrast, experiences don’t have really have a distinct charge. For example as a child, I decided I was going to go on an ice cream diet. After about a day of being allowed to eat all the icecream I wanted I was sick of ice cream. It was the other foods, especially the ones I wasn’t particularly fond of, that facilitated the reverent joy I felt eating ice cream. So, in short, the stubbed toes, the lawsuits, the divorces, etc. serve to create contrast so we can appreciate the joyful events.

Secondly, Suffering allows us the opportunity to create! As the Buddha said ‘What we focus our attention on grows’. This is quite literally and esoterically true! This is how we manifest our realities! Or from a materialistic perspective this can be described as how we make things happen! Like fixing your sink is a form of manifestation. You manifested fixing your kitchen sink. Anyway, the contrast of our world allows us the opportunity to choose. It is in this opportunity we have the freedom to decide whether we are going choose to focus on the darkness (the things that feel bad) or choose to focus on the light! (the things that feel good).

Suffering is the byproduct of Divine Grace. Because the truth is nothing that hurts us here can actually harm us. It’s all here for us to learn & have fun! That’s right this place is supposed to be fun! Life is supposed to be fun! Nothing on this Earth could damage or change the essence of who we really are.

The presence that observes all our thoughts, feelings emotions and life events (and our Suffering) remains unchanged regardless of what it is observing. If you are physically in a dumpster fire the you, the real you, the one that watches, is not going to be affected by the by the fumes or flames! Or the nuclear blast. Or whatever is we perceive as threats to our persons. When you die, the real you, the awareness, doesn’t go anywhere. It just keeps watching, but it’s no longer a human body in the 3D—it’s back in the realm of spirit watching a spirit!

Once we begin to relax into the knowledge of who we truly are, we can learn to be happy while we Suffering because know the truth of it. It's like how when you are a little kid you are afraid of the dark. Then as you grow up (hopefully) you realize that the darkness can't hurt you. You see it for what it is and thus you are able to release the fear. The more we know the less we fear we have. Or put differently, the more we know the more loving we are.

Suffering does not have to be something we do in agony and pain! The agony and pain of Suffering are only created when we resist it. Once we see Suffering for what it is, we can welcome it. 

How to Suffer

1) Acknowledge the Suffering! Welcome it. Once you name it and invite it in it has lost its power over you. It is the resistance of Suffering that keeps it alive in us. Imagine you have an uninvited guest in your house. They walk in and sit down in your living room. So you serve them some tea and ask them how their travels have been. You don't fuss over them being there and they pretty soon realize they've got to continue on their way. You just let them go about their business as you go about yours. Instead imagine as soon as the guest sat down in your living room you start yelling at him. Telling him how horrible and inconvenient he is and every time he tries to get up to leave you keep getting in his way so you can continue to tell him how unenjoyable his presence is! That's what we do when we aren't handling our emotions consciously. 

2) Let the waves of Suffering pass through you. The easiest way to do this is to notice the physical sensations in your body that are created by your Sufferings. Negative emotions have unique physical sensations they cause. Notice these.

3) Get out of your Mind. By noticing to the physical sensation in your body you can let them move through you instead of blocking their way. Don’t judge what you feel. If its Suffering it’s supposed to feel uncomfortable! Don’t get sucked into the endless mind chatter that perpetuates the Suffering.  

Example:

Let us say you are experiencing anxiety. This is a form of Suffering caused by habits of fearful thinking that form due to stressful early life circumstances & modeling by fearful parents. Let’s say your anxiety manifests physically as tightness in the chest, racing thoughts and heart palpitations. Holy cow that’s a lot of Suffering! First thing you will want to do is label the emotions! "Hello Anxiety! Welcome". Then you will want to begin to notice the related sensations. Welcome them as well! “Hello Chest Tightness! Welcome” etc.  Once you’ve welcomed your sensations you want to stay with them! Keep your awareness centered on them. Your mind will probably be racing and saying all sorts of things. You’ll find that most of these things are quite unhelpful and even make things worse. We cannot judge ourselves for our Suffering. Do we judge the ocean for her waves? No of course not! She’s doing what oceans do which is make waves! We don’t judge birds for flying or trees for growing branches. So why should we judge ourselves for something that is, according to one of the wisest of our kind, inherent to our very nature!