PAIN TO PLEASURE

We have five senses, through these senses our body is protecting itself. We are conscious being, we are aware of thing around us, and things inside us. We have memory to remember past experiences, every cell in our body has memory to remember each experience. A conscious being, with five senses is definitely going to get hurt, going to get sick and also getting our feeling hurt.  Living exposes us to pain, pain characterizes human  existence. This pain is actual pain, it is a physical pain also a psychological pain.

Along with pain we experience joy, pleasures, peace, bliss. All these characterizes human existence.

Normal tendency is to reduce pains to zero and increase pleasure,  that looks like not possible and also pleasure alone will make life boring. So can I get little bit of pain that I can bear and more pleasure, for example nobody hurts me, I should have enough money, I should not have cancer or other bad diseases, normal temperature, cold, headache are fine.

Lets first understand facts; Everything is changing and nothing stays same, your body, life is changing every day, we have to accept the reality that we age and at sometime we are going to lose our loved ones.

Another thing we need to understand is 'Cause and Effect'.  Where you are today because of your actions in the past, let me say other way your tomorrow will rely on what actions you take today. I know this statement does not look 100% correct, you are right; but it is 95% of time it is correct.


Lets take some examples. If you do regular exercise and correct healthy diet, tomorrow after 10 year chances of having diabetes, cancer or any chronic disease are very less. If you work hard and get good grades tomorrow you will be in better university with scholarship. If you save money later you have enough for rainy days.

It is possible, if you work hard has good grades but best university did not selected you. You eat healthy food, did exercise still you get cancer or diabetes. You save money, but still in rainy days people cheated you and money was not enough. BUT chances of these things are very less. Even if bad things happen but still you be strongly facing it, because you know how to work hard, that working hard has become your habit. Where ever you go you will succeed.

Enough on cause and effect, back to PAIN. You can not control other people behavior, you do not know what is going to happen tomorrow to you or to your loved one. Only way to reduce pain and sufferings is understand following true facts, facts means facts like 'Sun rises from east'. Here are the facts:

• Impermanence : Everything is changing, what you are different from what you were yesterday or a moment back. Everything around you are changing, even you can see any physical change but it is changing. Nature removes old and make way for new.
• What seems like dying is actually a process in the creation of something new.
• Perception is a choice: you are free to see any situation as chaotic or creative.
• Fear of the unknown isn't innate. It comes from old conditioning and can be overcome.
• Every suffering is an opportunity.

How you feel about yourself, how you experience yourself. Generally we experience our-self as I as a an man/woman who want to earn money and buy lots of things to make myself rich and happy. We always think we are separate from this universe, separate from environment, separate from others. This separateness make us fearful, we try to protect our-self from other, we try to be better than other, we judge ourselves and others all the time. We analyze every situation to check if we are safe, what is in it for me. We are never relaxed, we are not enjoying life. You will find yourself that very rarely you laugh out load. All the time your mind is busy in something for tomorrow for something that happened in the past.

All these cause psychological pain, or call it sufferings. Here is the solution:

Today give yourself freedom to be as, as you are and let things and people around you be the way they are. Do not impose how they should be, accept them (people, situation and things) as they are.
Open yourself to uncertainty, do not predict anything, do not expect anything, ready for uncertainty. Try, you will feel if your heart has been unclenched and a rush of  flow of energy.

Every suffering/pain is an opportunity. You accept how the things are actually means how this universe is, when we try to change we are against the universe trying to change it. We are not ask for sufferings, but when it comes we will take it as a new opportunity.

 .... TO BE CONTINUED