Cheri Huber’s quote, “Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional” has been powerful for me from the moment I read it.  It took me many years before I could see it operating in my own life.  Often we find ourselves in a repetitive cycle of suffering and with no clue as to how we got there.  Most of the time, we create our own suffering through our unconscious thoughts, feelings and actions.  And when we take the time to clearly look at our suffering and ask ourselves, “How did I contribute to this suffering?” we find the solution. 

I became aware of the suffering my wife and I created when we decided to make bi-weekly payments on our mortgage and consolidated loan.  We were living within an inch of our lives and had been doing so for at least three years.  With that awareness, we intentionally chose to arrange our payment schedule so we actually could breathe and put some fun back into our lives. 

Suffering comes in all sizes and shapes and we all experience it.  Even those we believe are “above” suffering.  Often we believe people who appear to have everything, power, prestige and money, are free from suffering – not always true.

I was in Santa Fe recently participating in Being With Dying, a professional training program in contemplative end of life care.  The main focus was the transformation of suffering.  I heard nurses, social workers; psychologists; hospice workers and spiritual care providers share their suffering as they cared for their patients who were at the end of their lives.  I heard for the first time of the suffering of the doctors in those hospital settings. 

Here was suffering that occurs when people who suffer cannot share their pain.  And in not sharing their pain in a safe space feel isolated, invalidated and unsupported.  And this suffering can lead to poor health, addictions, divorce and suicide.

Since then this loving kindness medication has become part of my daily practice.  May I be at peace, may I be free from suffering, may I come to know the light of my own true nature and may I be blessed and be a blessing to the world.  May all beings be at peace, may all beings be free from suffering, may all beings come to know the light of their own true nature and may all being be blessed and be a blessing to the world.

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