A big question for you, how to transform suffering into peace and liberation?
This week feels like the world has gone a bit crazy and things feel super scary with war raging in Ukraine after Russian invasion, Texas starting to investigate transgender-affirming care for youth as child abuse, pandemic has not let up, the stock market is going haywire, and the list goes on....
Ugh.....
Needless to say there are many people who are experiencing deep suffering...
One thing that is missing in the modern man, is the ability to manage, process and transform emotional pain and suffering.
We are living in a culture of avoidance where we are taught to push down our emotions, pretend everything is fine and dandy.
Vulnerability: Embrace the Breakdown
Vulnerability is seen as weakness, crying should be stopped, sadness should be "over with", and the pressure is on to get back to pretending that everything is fine, and that "I got this!"
Just yesterday, I advised my client to "embrace breakdown". She was afraid to feel her feelings thinking that if she allowed herself to breakdown, she'd shatter into peaces and 'lose it'.
Well, sometimes we get to "lose it in order to find it." Only by allowing yourself to go through a breakdown, you will find a new level, new ways of being, expansion and insight.
So, the first step in transforming suffering into mindfulness, compassion, peace and liberation is to acknowledge it, and feel it. Move through it rather than avoid it.
Cry it out (ugly cry with lots of snot is recommended here ) ... feel sad... feel bad... feel angry... vent... lose it....
Allow yourself to breakdown so you can experience a breakthrough.
Bigger the breakdown, the bigger the breakthrough!
The treasure of wisdom is buried deep within the darkness of the suffering.
Fetch it! Trust and know that it is there!
Go into this journey with an open and courageous heart knowing that you will bring forth a treasure of wisdom and knowledge that will enrich your life in unimaginable ways.
Compassion: We are a Stardust
The second step is to have compassion.
Open your magnificent, beautiful, radiant, loving heart for self-compassion and compassion for others.
Let the sad, bad, angry feelings start to melt away and realize that we are all one - one vast organism of humanity that has existed from the first dawn of human consciousness to today, and will go on until the end of days.
We are part of a bigger whole, we are stardust as Neil degases Tyson says. Imagine the power in that! Being stardust... Having the wisdom of the entire universe inside you!
Mindful Action: Do Things with Intention and Mindfulness
The third step is to take mindful action!
It doesn't matter what action you take. Just take action. Anything that feels good or empowers you!
Taking action will open up more and more doors for you. Don't plan too much, just do. Do what you feel called to do in your heart and soul. Keep it simple. Whatever you do, do it with intention and mindfulness. Don't check-out but stay connected to your deeper desires, intention and the experience itself.
Your action could be getting a manicure, maybe it's calling your mom, maybe it's sitting down to have ice-cream with your kid. It doesn't matter. JUST DO IT!
Do you already feel better? Knowing there is a way? Knowing that suffering has a purpose, and it is not some very bad cosmic joke!
Trusting that wisdom, growth, learning is available of you as a result of the suffering.
My final word for you today is to BE happy!!!
You don't haver to wait for the suffering to go away to allow yourself to be happy.
I invite you to step into the possibility of joy despite the existence of suffering.
You are not an "either-or" kinda person, because if we live an "either-or" kind of life, we end up waiting for happiness and fulfillment to arrive at some unknown date in the future...
It is already here! Inside you, if you choose it
If you want EXTRA RESOURCES, TOOLS AND INFORMATION, come join my "Circle of Support FB Group" - Where Transformation Happens