Embrace Your Suffering

A year ago I fought every fiber in my existence because I did not want to experience pain, loneliness, anger and sadness. I tried to mask it with every weapon that I had. Typically my methods of distraction were in the form of working several jobs, watching movies, doing extra chores, helping everyone else with their problems and sometimes I would even partake in some alcoholic beverages.

All these activities only further pushed these negative feelings further down in to the pit of my stomach. I kept rejecting and ignoring them but then I would start feeling intense anxiety and panic. I didn't sleep well and I was always on the verge of mental breakdown. All this because I could not allow myself to FEEL.

Why do we do this? Clearly, it is very unpleasant to go through the emotions involved in the basic things that make us sad or angry. You witnessed your husband or wife cheating on you, you lost a loved one, you are recovering from an assault or any other jolting life event. Who wants to go through all that hurt?

Most times we are told to just move on, let it go or simply not talk about it. This is extremely unhealthy! You are just reinforcing the notion that everything is fine even though it's absolutely not fine. So what if everything is NOT fine anyway? We are human beings and as such we are allowed to feel. We are supposed to feel.
Not every day is beautiful or perfect. Things happen and they change our lives profoundly.

What I believe is that in order to move forward in your life journey, you must be able to embrace your suffering. You are not weak if you cry or if you need to scream your anger to the wind. We are taught to suppress and not just let out those feelings. Instead, embrace those feelings, admit how much they hurt or how angry they make you. Analyze the situation to see what it is that makes you feel the way you do. Allow yourself the time to properly address the issue and when it feels right, move on!

Take one more step and each time your negative, sad emotion comes back to you. Take a deep breath, visualize the issue and imagine releasing it in the wind. Let the beautiful sky take your troubles away. My visualization typically includes a very blue sky, puffy white clouds and a warm breeze. I write my trouble on a piece of paper, fold it up and lift my hands to the sky. The wind naturally takes it away and I thank the universe for helping me through the difficult state of mind.

I want to reinforce that tragedies may happen in our lives and some people will take longer to recover from them. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. It is not a sign of weakness. My point is that the sooner you embrace the loss, sadness or anger then the sooner you are able to embrace the suffering and move forward on your journey.

Namaste.