Thursday, September 9, 2021
Dealing with emotional pain is hard! Anybody can be cool with the good times, that’s easy. But how does one learn to deal with challenge? Dealing with challenge is a skill that no-one can “protect” you from, either – although some parents try to do this. We don’t deal with emotional pain by avoiding it, or by blaming. We deal with it by healing from it, through self-examination. Don’t beat yourself up (by making yourself sick with regrets), make yourself well (by reflecting on improving your outlook).
It may be time to stop searching for external evidence for things that aren’t going so well in your life. Rather than looking outwardly, for forensic evidence on the surface, look inwardly, for the root cause. Most of the time, you’ll have those “ah ha” moments that will begin to alleviate your suffering. Feeling down, or being depressed, doesn’t always have a root cause, but it can often be a signal for some kind of necessary change, internally. Internal changes could include attitudes, beliefs, or biases. Suffering can be a signal to look within, not without. Too often, it’s the internal condition that needs medicine and healing, not the external.
Take a moment to do a self examination, each and every day. If there is an area that is diseased or in pain, nurture it. Work with it patiently, and be open to the prescription for your own healing (internal change). Healing yourself, and forgiving yourself takes a lifetime! Swallow the difficult pill that disintegrates your pride, the pill that is necessary to heal a diseased conscience. There is nothing wrong with you, per se. It’s just that you didn’t take time to do an exam before challenge arrived. The diagnosis isn’t a death sentence, but the prognosis can be much, much better! There’s still time to do an exam, to find and heal the internal challenges, before the external challenges find you first.
Start each day by learning something about yourself!