Many people suffer and do not even realize it. They don’t realize it because they are numb to the world and their life circumstances. They think that is the way life is supposed to be. They don’t realize there is a greater potential for more joy and happiness in their life.
Some say suffering is the path to god. Many who are influenced by eastern religions feel suffering is justified as it is their karma. But suffering is unwise, uncomfortable and hazardous to your health. Suffering besides the unhappiness it levies on your spirit brings the body out of balance and will lead to illness and disease.
But suffering is optional. Only a master can consciously and effectively alter the events in their life. Since most of us are not at that level, bad things happen to us and the only thing we can control is how we think and feel about the event. And how we think about the event after the fact determines our state of being. What if suffering has little to do with events but more to do with your reaction to the events? What happens just happens. What is, just is. How you feel about it … now that’s another matter. Thoughts about events can live on years after the event happened. The victim is literally imprisoned by their thoughts of the past. Through free will and conscious choice, you can choose how to experience life and minimize your suffering. Choice is the difference between joy and suffering. Here is a 4 step process to minimize the suffering in your life.
Recognize there is another possibility. Nothing changes unless you believe it is possible to change. Opening to possibility opens space for recreating life anew. I have done it, Pat has done it, many others have done it and so can you. Believe in a new possibility.
Clear negativity from you field and eliminate negative events. This may seem like the ideal solution but until you get really clear in your intent and stop resisting life and allowing in the good, this is harder than it seems. Hard as it is to imagine, all events in our life are created by us. Some are produced willfully and consciously while many are drawn to us unconsciously through the law of attraction. Other events are planetary in nature and we contribute to these through our contribution to the collective consciousness. So the work is to clear our field of negative and limiting beliefs so you can allow in more good. This will consistently, effortlessly, automatically and permanently reduce the frequency and severity of negative events in your life unless you choose to recreate them. Use whatever tools you are comfortable with to clear your field. Try Reiki, Psychotherapy, Pranic Healing, Sweat Lodges, Access BARS, Esoteric Healing, Crystal Healing, Somato Emotional Release, Shamanic Journeying and, of course, my favorite Conscious Breathing Breathwork. This is a short list of what I have experienced. There are many more. Clear your field of negativity.
Choose to view the event differently. Sounds ridiculous but this is where the rubber meets the road. The best way to illustrate this is through example. Recently a person made some unfavorable and untrue comments regarding an experience they had at the Center. The first response was to be defensive and justify why this person was wrong. Feelings of anger, betrayal, frustration and guilt began to surface. These feelings were furthered by the fact that this person made these comments anonymously and on the web making it impossible to dialogue and discuss the issue. At this point every thought about the subject created feelings of ill will and they fed on each other. The more we thought about it, the worse it got. Pat asked, “How do I let go of this?”
The solution was simple. Stop thinking those thoughts. Just place your mind on something else and this is what we did. Look at the trees, admire the colors, give gratitude for the meal you just had, or think of a past experience that was happy. There are many ways to change what you are thinking of. Soon your mind will be off in another direction. As you redirect your mind you are also redirecting your energy. Once your energy is redirected you will cease attracting more of the same and begin attracting something new.
Thirty minutes after this exercise we had forgotten about the issue. I asked Pat to revisit the issue and sure enough there was significantly less emotion attached to it. The issue was a non-issue. Each moment we are recreating ourselves. Your choice is to decide how you wish to be in each moment. Choose different thoughts.
The power of three. This is not really a separate step but an acknowledgement that the above three steps, the Power of Three, are synergistic. Redirecting the mind can be hard due to the emotional attachment of the ego to the event. When you open to a new way of being in Step 1 and lessen the negativity in your field through Step 2, Step 3, choosing a new thought, is infinitely easier. That is why we could easily and quickly shift to a different thought. Do your work on Step 2 to make Step 3 easier. These steps work together in an unbeatable way to change the way you experience life and put an end to suffering. Remember the Power of Three.
Suffering is not bad. It just is. Suffering tells you that there is something about the way you are choosing to view the world that is not in alignment with higher truth. Be aware of the suffering in your life and know it is a choice. By using the Power of Three, suffering can be left behind leaving you with joy. And that’s what it’s all about … living a joyful life. May the JOY be with you!
