Suffering is optional.
Say you’re running and
you think, ‘Man, this hurts,
I can’t take it anymore. The
‘hurt’ part is an unavoidable
reality, but whether or
not you can stand anymore
is up to the runner himself.
Psychological pain or mental
pain is an unpleasant feeling
(a suffering) of a psychological
, non-physical, origin.how
much you hurt as a human
being. It is mental suffering;
mental torment."
Life is a pain for that matter
but suffering is optional.
self transformation, under
the practices of mental
transformation.
When it comes to how we
respond to physical and
emotional pain, we have
a choice.
“Between stimulus and
response there is a space.
In that space is our power
to choose our response.
In our response lies our
growth and our freedom
Physical pain has distinct
biological and psychological
components that effectively
represent stimulus and
response. The biology of pain
is the signal transmitted
through the central nervous
system that “something
is wrong.” The psychology
of pain is the interpretation
or meaning we give to
that pain signal—the
internal self-talk and
beliefs about it which
then drive our emotional
reactions.
Suffering results
from mental and
emotional responses
to pain. The biological
and psychological
facets of chronic pain
combine to become like
a smoke detector that
goes on and stays on,
continuously sounding
a harrowing alarm
at high volume.
Suffering in general,
as well as specific to
chronic pain, is a
function of imbalances
in physical, mental,
emotional, and/or
spiritual functioning.
Because whatever affects
the mind or the body will
inevitably affect the
other, regardless of which
side of the fence an
issue originates,
imbalances in thinking
can create imbalances
in physical, emotional,
and spiritual functioning.
“When touched with a
feeling of pain, the
uninstructed run-of-the
-mill person sorrows, grieves,
& laments, beats his breast,
becomes distraught.
So he feels two pains,
physical & mental.
Just as if they were to
shoot a man with an arrow
and, right afterward,
were to shoot him with
another one, so that he
would feel the pains of
two arrows; in the same
way, when touched with
a feeling of pain, the
uninstructed run-of-the
-mill person sorrows,
grieves, & laments,
beats his breast,
becomes distraught.
So he feels two pains
, physical & mental.”