Sorrow, Good...Suffering, Not So Much.

Sorrow is normal. Sorrow is natural. Sorrow is healthy. Sorrow is when something immediately affects us in such a way that we feel in our heart a significant reaction to this something. When our dog dies we feel sorrow. When we get laid off from a job that we liked or very much needed we feel sorrow. We feel sorrow when a friend is angry with us. Sorrow arises when we watch a natural catastrophe. Sorrow is a direct spontaneous reaction to an immediate circumstance that we perceive in that initial learning and experiencing of it, leads us into loss.

Suffering is the choice to continue the perpetuation of the pain of sorrow. Sorrow happens and instead of allowing the moment of the sorrow to flow through us, we think about it over and over again. An event that occurred thirty years ago can remain toxic in our mind, body, and Spirit if we did not release it with the passing of the motion of time.

“The wound is the place where the Light enters you.” 

― Rumi

When we suffer, we do not allow light to enter the wound. We become attached to the wound. We often identify who we are with the wound, even us as the wound. When we attach and identify with our wounds, we suffer.

“One thing you can't hide - is when you're crippled inside.” 

― John Lennon

Suffering is an energy vibration. Suffering continues the past perspective into the moment. This is completely in our control. We conjure up a subjective past event, implant in into the action of the present moment, and force our emotions, thoughts, and body to react to this illusory event. It it illusory because  "it"  no longer exists. Even the memory of the event is tainted by the time that has passed. When we suffer, we choose to injure ourselves over and over again. 

“As long as you think that the cause of your problem is “out there”—as long as you think that anyone or anything is responsible for your suffering—the situation is hopeless. It means that you are forever in the role of victim, that you’re suffering in paradise.” 

― Byron Katie, Loving What Is: Four Questions That Can Change Your Life

Suffering thoughts and feelings poison the moment of today. Carrying events and beliefs from the past lead to a misunderstanding of the present opportunities. We may even stop the gift of joy in the present moment because ten years ago we failed out of college, or twenty years ago we broke up with the love of our lives, or last year we invested in a business that went bankrupt. None of these events need contribute to today...unless WE choose to bring them into this moment. When we base the creation of our day on old suffering, suffering infiltrates every next moment, leading us into directions that continue to give us more suffering. We can prove that the world is one of suffering for us if we keep inviting suffering as a main ingredient of our day. 

Suffering also is in direct contradiction to what is in a moment. It is our leaving the moment, pulling from the past or projecting into the future, that causes suffering and anxiety. When we bypass what is happening in the current moment then we often suffer because we construct thoughts that conjure up suffering. We may believe that we are alone because a parent abandoned us when we were seven, we may think that nothing good ever happens to us because in our early adulthood we broke our back, lost our job, and our girlfriend left or we may believe that we can never succeed in our career because the economy was such that we were laid off four times in two years.

Today, embrace your sorrow. Experience death, loss, change, betrayal, and all of the interpretations of an immediate experience. And then release the attachment to these feelings and beliefs. Leave them in the moment that they occurred. Look up and align with the love that is present in the faces of those with you today.  Engage and explore the world, reaching fully into the present moment for the new job, the new love, the expanded living opportunities.

Walk not alone, but with all your new friends. Dream big with a big heart, knowing that abundance always exists. Be confident that the movement out of your sorrow into hope, awakening, and faith guarantees not only the avoidance of suffering, but the surest route to fuller happiness.

Let today be your first day to begin the putting down of all of your suffering. Life is worth living with a full heart, awakened spirit, and smiling knowledge that wonderful things are right here, now, in this very moment.