Pain is inevitable. We fall out of a tree and break our arm. We step on a nest of fire ants. We stub our toe on a stone.
Suffering is optional. Suffering is what our minds do with the pain we experience. Mary’s husband Jim has an affair with Mary’s best friend Sue. Joel’s Army commander orders him to fire on innocent women and children. The car behind us rear-ends us, causing a whiplash injury to our neck. Our child is killed in a school shooting. At times like this, we start looking for the cause of our pain – someone or something to blame.
By shifting our thinking, we can release our suffering and move on with our lives.