What Pain Teaches

"I am not what happened to me. I am what I choose to become." - Carl Jung

Pain and suffering are real. Each is difficult to navigate. Either can break us temporarily or permanently.

But pain and suffering are not the same. Understanding the distinction can make all the difference.

Pain is different than suffering.

Physical, psychological, or spiritual pain is a human response to injury, loss, or absence. Suffering is attachment to pain, desire, or outcome.

Pain is an affliction. Suffering is a choice.

Experiences Vs. Identity

You are not defined by your pain or suffering unless you decide to be.

How you respond to pain is both a reflection of character and an opportunity to cultivate it.

Invitation

Refusing pain's invitation to suffer affords the opportunity to be taught by it; to not become broken but instead broken open. 

Meet pain with acceptance and you become more committed, connected, and compassionate with yourself and others. You become wiser and resilient. You can choose to serve and flourish.

“The world is nothing but change. Our life is only perception.” - Marcus Aurelius

Pain invites us into a journey of solitude and suffering or transcendence and transformation. Which are you on?

Scott Perry, Chief Difference-Maker at C reative on Purpose

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