Enriching Lives through Online Training

Understand Suffering
(from Get the Most Out of Life, by Derrick Sweet)

As long as there has been human life, there has been suffering. Suffering is part of life, just as the afternoon is part of the day. The question shouldn’t be “How can I avoid suffering?” because you won’t. The question should be, “What can I learn from suffering?” I still ask why the events of September 11 happened, why diseases like AIDS exist, and how a happy little two-year-old can die of cancer. Is it possible that these terrible things happen to teach us something so we can evolve as a people? Could some of this suffering be happening to teach us compassion? To remind us that we are not separate from everyone else—that each one of us is a cell in a body called humanity? Could suffering be moving us closer to understanding, communicating, and connecting with our source? I do believe everything happens for a reason. Most of the suffering that you will experience, such as the death of a loved one, will remind you to live—to really live. Other forms of suffering like sickness, poverty, and loneliness all have lessons as well. If we never experience sickness, we won’t fully appreciate health; if we never experienced failure, we can’t enjoy success, and if we never experience anxiety we can never fully appreciate peace of mind.