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Today's
Meditation:
When I consider the suffering that I've gone through,
it seems minor in retrospect. When I compare it to
the things that other people have suffered, my suffering
seems to be almost insignificant, but that's only because
I'm looking at it from the present, and it's there in the
past. How it seems now should not take away the
strength of its reality--my suffering has been very real,
and it's affected me very strongly and deeply. I've
suffered through the very real pain of depression, and
I've suffered through other things that are probably
better left unsaid.
In the long run, though, one thing that I know for sure is
that my suffering has made me more compassionate, and when
I see someone who's going through difficulties of their
own, I'm able to look at their actions and words in
different ways. I'm able also to lend them a
hand--or even just an ear--so that they might feel that
they're not alone in this world, which is something that
many suffering people feel.
At times when I'm able to help others in their suffering,
I know that the suffering that I've gone through was
worth it. I never would know what to say, I never
would know how to act, had I not gone through similar
suffering myself. Likewise, when I go through
difficult times now, I remember that no matter how bad
things get, I will be able to use what I learn through
this new suffering sometime in the future to help someone
else who's going through something similar.
None of our suffering is wasted. It's difficult to
get through, but it strengthens us and it allows us to be
more compassionate and thus more helpful to others.
When we look at our suffering, it's important that we look
not just at what we're going through and the ways it makes
us feel, but also at what we're learning from it and how
we may be able to use that knowledge one day. We
shouldn't seek out suffering just to make ourselves
stronger, of course, but we should look for purpose when
suffering does hit our lives. For just as the runner
has to push him- or herself to the edge of endurance to
improve running skills, sometimes we'll be pushed to the
edge of our endurance for the sake of learning something
very, very important.
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