Why Do You Suffer?

Life is suffering.

Did you know that?

Maybe you’ve experienced suffering involuntarily in your life

because of a hardship that befell you.

Or maybe you chose suffering

because it was the only way to achieve what you wanted.

Of course, life is not always suffering,

nor is it about suffering.

Yet suffering is there.

What matters is

how we deal with it

and why we deal with it.

When we have the goal

to grow and improve continually,

when we strive to strip away

all that does not serve our deepest wish,

our life purpose,

we meet with resistance.

That resistance is suffering.

Finding our center,

and from its safety,

letting go of our resistance

releases our internal suffering

and buffers us from the effects

of our external circumstances.

And when suffering

is for our growth and vision,

behind and beyond

the discomfort and pain

of the moment

is a light, a joy, and a gladness

that cannot be found

if we spend our lives

avoiding suffering

for the sake of being comfortable.

Life is suffering

and that’s okay

because suffering can be the means

to so much more.

 

Ilchi Lee