Dear friend,
Often, when we experience pain and suffering, we armor up to protect ourselves from the discomfort. We try to somehow fend it off by shielding ourselves or holding the door shut with all our might, hoping that it’ll disappear.
However, the more we resist facing pain and suffering and the distress, misery, and sorrow it brings along with it, the more it continues knocking on our door.
We must take off our armor, put down our shield, and soften up before our stresses, fears, and anxieties to understand why it has come to visit us.
If you ever feel like you’re alone in battling pain and suffering every other season, you aren’t. Most of us repeatedly hurt and heal. Even when we think we’ve conquered our sorrows and miseries, they seem to return, in spite of us showing up and putting in the work to heal and grow.
Whenever you find yourself sulking in despair before the pain and suffering that tries to knock your door down, rather than resisting it, simply soften up. Relax your mind and body and lean into the stresses, fears, and anxieties to alleviate the agony from trying to keep your door shut.
I know it’s easier said than done. To simply fall into an ocean of pain and suffering while not knowing if you’ll drown in it or not. You may feel like it in the beginning, but you will learn how to swim through it.
“Enter fully your own ocean of being. You keep coming up to breathe the stale air of the mind. Therefore, I keep holding your head under the waters of the self so that you may drown. Fear not. You will not drown into death—you will drown into eternal life.”
-Mooji
When you soften up before distress, misery, and sorrow, you open the door for it. You welcome it in your home, let it have a space to sit down, befriend it, and learn about it. In doing so, you find ease in understanding where it comes from and why it needed a seat.
You disconnect from your true inner light, and what can be a joyous and peaceful life experience, as you stakeout and protect yourself from all that may cause you discomfort. The more you resist the pain and suffering that you cross paths with from time to time, and suppress the uneasy feelings it brings with it, the more challenging it is on your mental, physical, and spiritual wellbeing.
As hard as it is, you must welcome pain and suffering into your home to understand it. Even if you don’t open the door and it does disappear on its own, it’ll only be temporarily, and will come back stronger the next time around.
As I mentioned, we all hurt and heal repeatedly, even when we welcome pain and suffering into our home. Yet, each time it comes around, it weakens, oblivious to the fact that it’s supporting your personal growth.
The weight of the armor and shield no longer weighs you down.
The restlessness around holding the door shut dissipates.
You’re able to welcome pain and suffering into your home not as a stranger, but as an acquaintance.
You become familiar with its company and know it’s not going to stay.
When it does return, you’re ready to address it, and let it be on its way, with every visit shortening each time.
With Love,
Jasmine