Dear Human ... Suffering From The Inside Out
Jul 10, 2020
Hey Dear Humans, suffering is one of those topics that some humans struggle with and so the cast of the Dear Human Podcast discussed it in length and used an example from "being in love". In the blog version of this topic we turn to the Latin ... as we oft do on this show and blog.
To the Latin then, Sub-ferre or sufferre means "to bear from below" and so suffering is an energy humans "bear" or are "burdened" with from below.
The "below" metaphor is also found in some of the religious philosophies throughout humanity. In humans it is your place of "lowness". Suffering is this place of being energetically and physically low.
And here is the deal, dear ones. Suffering is not the same as "pain". Let's turn to the Latin again (yay Latin!), and we find the word "poena", meaning penalty. Pain was something that was inflicted onto another in the form of punishment as a penalty.
Dear ones, when you say you are in pain from an event, circumstance or person and your hand is not actually in the fire pit or someone is not actually physically inflicting pain onto you, what you are saying is you are suffering.
There is no outside force being inflicted upon you. There is no actual pain.
That being true, where is the "pain", as we commonly label our suffering, coming from?
You, dear one.
You inflict your own pain (suffering). Specifically, your thinking inflicts your own suffering. And your thoughts, in turn, transform into body sensations and feelings that you call "pain".
Yes, people say things to you. Yes, people take action that impacts you. Yes, you experience circumstances. Unless that person or circumstance physically touches you and ruptures your skin, dear human, there is no actual pain.
All suffering is in our minds, dear humans. You literally inflict pain upon yourself from the inside out. You generate your own suffering from your thinking. You create it.
Collectively, when we don't own our own suffering, when we do not take responsibility for our internal wounding, when we remain or operate from our "lowness", we create suffering in the world.
The abused father, abuses the son.
The shamed mother, shames the daughter.
The fearful boss, controls the worker.
The neglected leader, neglects the nation.
All suffering is unresolved inner conflict, dear ones. All suffering starts and stops with you. You create it in you and you project it onto the world ... until you don't.
Today, Ask Yourself ...
What is the inner conflict in me that wants integrating? What experiences have I had in life that need holding and releasing? Who do I need to forgive? What area of my life do I want to take responsibility for to end my own suffering?
Playfully Pragmatic ...
Your pathway to integrating suffering is to look, dear human. Look inside. No one out here is creating your suffering. All that is happening out here is people talkin' and people doin' stuff. That's it.
The rest of it, dear ones, is where you pick it up. People lay down some stuff and you pick it up and transfer it into "pain".
Playfully, your factory of being human, your instrument, processes all the stuff out here and transforms some of it into "pain and suffering" inside your factory and then ... well ... poops that stuff into the world.
Start by questioning everything about how you process all that stuff, dear one.
Maybe put some scrubbers in your factory called ... "meditation" or "contemplative walks" called Shinrin-yoku in the Japanese or "Forest Bathing". Yes. Like taking a bath in the forest. I recommend avoiding the pine cones for scrubbing when you are forest bathing ... they kinda hurt ... which is real pain dear human ... see what I did there with the metaphor dear ones? I crack myself up ...
The metaphor we discussed in the podcast involved love and loving someone who chooses a different path. This creates the longing and wanting for that person. You do the longing and the wanting, they take a walk in the forest to do some bathing, you get upset.
Your suffering comes from your wanting, dear human. Your suffering comes from not accepting and allowing reality. Yes, it "hurts" to hold love and not have it returned ... in your mind. Your body then "listens" to your mind and reacts with suffering There is no actual pain.
Here is the good news, dear ones. You get to be with that mind thinking and body sensation and transform it into whatever you want to transform it into.
When you own your human experience, when you take responsibility, when you consciously create your life, your suffering ends dear one.
You can love someone, make requests for them to join you, and allow what wants to occur to occur. You can notice your thinking and body sensations whether they say yes or no to your request and you can be with your sensations from a place of wholeness and peace. You choose dear one. Whatever you choose, also choose being responsible for your impact.
Take the Drama Out of Being Human
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