Pain and suffering happen when we are not aligned with our nature and purpose
The First Noble Truth of Buddhism states the truth about suffering. There is pain and suffering in life. All people experience pain and suffering. People suffer pain physically, emotionally and mentally. This seems to be the core human experience that we are challenged to overcome every day of our life.
Some school of thought teaches that suffering and pain is a punishment for our sins or the sins of our ancestors. We experience pain and suffering because of what we have said or done or of what our ancestors have said and done. While this might be true in a sense that the pain and suffering is a consequence of previous actions by us or our ancestors, these should not be seen as punishment.
For me, pain and suffering is a feedback mechanism by the universe to communicate to you that you are not anymore aligned to the purpose and plan of the universe for you. When you are going off track, you will experience pain and suffering to communicate that you are not anymore aligned and need to go back on course. If we fail to heed the signal, the pain and suffering will intensify until we have made our realization. Once we have realized and chosen to go back on track, the pain and suffering will begin to deescalate and go away. Pain and suffering will be replaced by joy and happiness.
We experience pain and suffering in our physical body as physical pain and disease. When we are not using our body properly due to lifestyle choices, our body will experience disease to communicate to us that our body is not aligned to its natural use.
We also experience pain and suffering in our emotional body as negative emotions. When we are not nurturing our emotional health and maturity, we will experience stress, worry, anxiety, anger, resentment or depression. These communicate that we are approaching life situations in an improper or unskillful way.
We also experience pain and suffering in our mental body as confusion, mental rigidity, bias, prejudice or mental laxness. When we are not disciplining our mind, our thoughts will be muddled, inaccurate, confused, unclear and irrelevant. These will lead to wrong words, choices, decisions and actions that will generate harm to us and others.
We also experience pain and suffering in our spiritual body as restlessness, boredom or frustration. When we are not living our spiritual purpose, our spirit will be restless, bored or frustrated. These communicate that we are not attuned to the spirit of God who gives joy and life.
Our pain and suffering are driven by our human needs. At the existential level, our need to survive and be secure drives pain and suffering when they are not being met. At the relational level, our need to belong and be esteemed drives pain and suffering when they are not met. At the growth level, our need to actualize ourselves and contribute to others drives pain and suffering when they are not met.
Joy and happiness is our natural state. When our needs are met, when we are aligned to nature and when we are attuned to God’s purpose and plan, we will experience peace, joy and happiness. When we lose this alignment, then we experience pain and suffering.
About the author
Other Articles
The Spiritual Nature of the Filipino Psyche
May the gods smile upon your journey wherever your path brings you.
Read moreAngels at the Crossroads
At a certain point in our lives, we have always arrived at our crossroads.
Read moreKaleidoscope Life
Emotions are the booster for behavioral changes. Cognition and language fortify these changes.
Read moreBeings of Love and Emotions
Humans are beings of love and emotions. Children's psycho-emotional needs have to be nurtured.
Read moreMy Search for Happiness
Isn’t it time to turn all those past memories and future experiences into your happy trails!
Read moreTheir Finest Hour
If you are reading this, then the choice you made in your darkest hours was to survive.
Read moreFree Will (Fact or Fiction)
Law of Attraction essentially says that which you truly believe is what you are attracted to and by.
Read moreIdentity Independence vs. Unhealthy Emotional Fusion
Have COURAGE to break the toxic psycho-emotional chain & FAITH to forge a soul-nurturing one
Read moreNarcissism, Mental Health, and NLP
Understand that individuals see the world differently,their map of the world is different from yours
Read moreManaging Psycho-Emotional Stress
Stressors are part of our life and it's up to us how to manage them well!
Read moreAXIOS!
Embracing your pain while helping others is a life worthy of who you are.
Read moreOur Love for Psycho-Dramas
Psycho-dramas are defense mechanisms for psycho-emotional issues.
Read moreBroken Road to Redemption
Broken roads offer wonders, mysteries, and terrors. Walking through them is being forged in fire.
Read moreWe Are Naturally Irrational: And Why Using a Blaming Tone Won’t Win “Them” Over to “Your” Side
People are naturally irrational, and most of these beliefs revolve around self-identity issues.
Read moreMarriage Constitution: An Operating Manual
Love and management of expectations: A Marriage Constitution
Read moreBreak the Habit of Fault-finding and Blaming
We can re-program our mind and liberate ourselves from negative beliefs to life-enhancing ones.
Read moreFour Kinds of Leaders
Transformative leaders always choose to see the best in the people and the organization.
Read moreLove in the Eternal Now
Love is that part of your soul, finding the gentle heartbeat of another - across space, beyond time.
Read moreFaith in Humanity
In our heart of hearts, we strive to do what is right; we don't have hearts full of darkness.
Read moreSelf-Awareness and the Unconscious Mind
Self-awareness and reflection leads to the unleashing of the power of the unconscious mind.
Read morePhilippine Culture Through the Eyes of an American Expat
Viewing with a different lens the Filipino culture of the "here-and-now" and the joy it brings.
Read moreEmotion and Identity
There's an inverse relationship between self-esteem, or positive self-regard, and insecurity.
Read moreHealing Pain and Suffering
Filling the heart-mind-spirit of life-giving thougths and emotions will heal pain and suffering.
Read moreStructure of Pain and Suffering
Thoughts and beliefs that are not aligned to the purpose of God for us result in pain and suffering.
Read moreKey Drivers of Pain and Suffering
The three drivers of pain and suffering: existential fear, obligations of love, ambitions of pride.
Read moreThe Nature of Pain and Suffering
Pain and suffering happen when we are not aligned with our nature and purpose
Read moreNLP MANILA CERTIFICATION COURSES 2016-2017
NLP Manila Certification Course 2016-2017
Read moreWords Make Worlds
In all of us reside the warrior of the light and the serpent of discord, and they manifest themselve
Read moreThe Sacred Burial Ground
The sacred burial ground is in all those places where our true heroes – the freedom fighters...
Read moreHeart of Darkness and of Light
There is a war raging in the world, and it is a war not of religion, but of the human soul: a war...
Read moreHope and Influence
Love may go, friendships can fade, dreams may vanish, but once you lose HOPE, the world fades...
Read moreHEROES AND DREAMS
Heroes are those who pursue their dreams…regardless of how difficult or long, or painful, or...
Read more