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harryshelswell

How To End Suffering

Updated: Oct 31

Unfortunately, suffering is something everyone experiences during their life on this earth. It can manifest through physical pain, emotional distress, or deep anxieties about life. For many, it feels like a never-ending cycle. But what if the solution to alleviating our suffering isn't found in external factors, but rather within our ourselves? This blog post will examine how we create our own suffering and offer practical steps to comprehend and ultimately overcome it.


Understanding the Nature of Suffering


Often, we view suffering as something that strikes us without warning, found in events such as losing a loved one, facing financial difficulties, or dealing with a chronic illness that may feel unavoidable and overwhelming. However, suffering is not solely about external events; it significantly arises from our thoughts, beliefs, and how we interpret these events.


At its essence, suffering is a mental construct, and created by our repression or denial of the natural unfolding of life's events. Our minds can amplify experiences, often turning small setbacks into significant hurdles. A 2018 study reported that up to 73% of people experience intensified emotional pain due to negative interpretation of their experiences, recognizing that much of our suffering is shaped by our perceptions.


What is Causing Your Suffering?


There is only really one way to fully end our suffering and that is to understand what is causing it. Once we have located the root cause of our suffering, we can then start the process of removing it from our life.

I believe the most important thing on this planet is for us to find inner peace and live a healthy and happy life, but until we equip ourselves with the inner tools we need to make this happen, we will continue to look for ways outside of us to either escape our pain or patch it up temporarily with external pleasures. Unfortunately, the root cause of our suffering is a hard pill to swallow, because it is in fact us who creates it. How do we create our suffering? We create our own suffering by the denial, repression, or non acceptance of the situation that is unfolding in front of us. This then creates friction within our being, and that friction and repression is what we know of as suffering. However, if we learn to become an experiencer of our reality rather than a struggling victim of it, we can then often learn the lesson contained within the discomfort we feel and move on from the pain much easier.

Once I fully understood that it was me who was creating my suffering, I was then able to relax into the moment I was experiencing and feel it deeply for what it was. By doing this, I became mentally and emotionally at peace with my life, allowing me to flow in harmony with things rather than fighting against them. Although I learned this lesson during an immense amount of pain, I am now living my life permanently free from suffering despite the ups and downs life may throw at me, and this is done by practicing the art of acceptance and mindfulness. Acceptance is a transformative tool for alleviating suffering. Rather than wishing for different circumstances, embracing reality as it is can free us from unnecessary stress. This does not mean we should enjoy discomfort; instead, acceptance involves acknowledging our emotions without harsh judgment. Letting go of the desire to control the uncontrollable grants us the power to focus on how we respond. When we stop resisting our reality, we can then redirect our efforts towards healing and personal growth.

The other thing that we can do during our suffering is use it as a chance to induce a spiritual awakening, by asking ourselves who or what is suffering while observing our own mental discomfort, leading us to a greater discovery of the awareness within ourselves. The other thing we must also understand is that sometimes the pain we feel in our life is there as a blessing, to steer us on a better path, but if we repress and run from this pain it will cause us to be burdened by what we know of as suffering. It has taking me over a decade of practicing mindfulness and mediation and studying psychology to become permanently free from suffering. But it is very much possible, and it is easier than you think to make it happen.

Moving Towards a Brighter Future - Ending Suffering


As we navigate through life's ups and downs, it is vital to recognize that much of our suffering is molded by our perspectives, thoughts, and beliefs. By understanding suffering's dimensions and taking proactive steps towards acceptance, self-compassion, and human connection, we can empower ourselves to break free from its chains. Ultimately, the key to overcoming suffering is found within. By transforming how we respond to our thoughts and situations, we can cultivate a life filled with compassion, happiness, and profound inner peace. In understanding this journey, we may realize that the power to end suffering lies not in altering the world around us, but in reshaping our perceptions and reactions to it.


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