Definition of Suffering
I googled the definition of suffering and got this: the state of undergoing pain, distress, or hardship.
I want to offer another definition. Suffering is believing that I should be somewhere I’m not.
How many of us go about our day thinking things like:
It shouldn’t be this way.
I’m not supposed to be in pain.
My life is supposed to be different.
I didn’t sign up for this.
I should be happier, thinner, richer than I am.
I should be married, not single.
I shouldn’t be so angry, depressed, emotional.
We live in the feeling of our thinking. When we are focused on believing that we should be someplace other than the actual place we are in this moment, that is the definition of suffering.
We are innocently living in a thought-created experience of pain, distress or hardship. It may look like the circumstances of our life creates our suffering (ie: an illness, an emotionally unavailable spouse, a bigger body than we want), but truth be told, our suffering comes from our thinking about these things.
Where we are right now is perfect because G-d is perfect. The world is being recreated perfectly moment to moment.
Touching that reality allows pain to just be pain, discomfort to just be discomfort. Our added mental commentary creates the illusion we are not ok with pain or discomfort, thus we experience suffering.
What if we don’t have to suffer anymore?
