Your Painful Life Situations Are Because of Grace That Can Liberate You

You attract people and situations that are best for your highest growth — don’t neglect them.

Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding. ~ Khalil Gibran

Last year I felt extreme pain in my heart. I could not meet or see my beloved for straight 7 months. My principal driving force in life is love. I felt powerless when I was devoid of that love. Sometimes it wasn't easy to breathe.

For weeks, I cried in excruciating pain. When the pain became unbearable, I sat face to face with my helplessness. I expressed my suffering in every way, not to anyone but myself. It felt like a slow death. I accepted this death and its suffering until I became free of it.

Free from the agony of separation. I realized love was within me all along. For this realization to happen, life gave me an intense test. I could not have gone inside if there was no pain outside.

How often have we listened to the lament — Why do I always attract irresponsible men/women who break my heart? Where is success? How did I never get into the right relations? Why are there endless suffering and sorrow in my life?

The simple answer is because you need them.

Life is not what you think it is. It is much beyond your narrow opinions and visions. Controversial statement! Isn’t it?

Yes, each one of us deserves every good thing. But can we truly appreciate the better when we have not known the worst?

A hurt person understands the importance of being empathic. The lonely individual knows the value of togetherness. A person with limited means appreciates the comfort in their life.

Life is intelligent energy. It does not function according to our thought process. It knows what is best for us and dishes us the exact thing at the right moment. Be it pain or ecstasy.

Learn to read the signs of life and its circumstances. It is silently screaming at your face what needs to be learned.

God gave us the pain to remind us we are alive, so we will learn to value the joys and beauty of the world. ~ Tom Corr

The Outside Reality Is a Mirror to Your Inside Reality

Your inside situation/emotions/thoughts create the external reality. The life situation reflects what you need to discover deeply.

We all have unique life paths. Every situation is a lesson that helps to see beyond everyday auto living. You shed unnecessary baggage as you explore and move forward in life.

My old friend contacted me after a decade-long gap. She shared how she left her husband, as he had multiple extramarital affairs. It disturbed her to the core. Her love and dedication were exemplary. She asked me then why life showed her the ugly face?

I answered, “While loving him, you forgot to love yourself.”

When you get too involved in life, it jolts you into reality.

The truth is where all stories and mind patterns get dropped. The world would not function according to your fantasies. Life prepares you to drop the self-created fiction. The painful situations in life arise to connect with your highest self.

Still, we all create our illusion bubbles and try to live in a safe and known environment. But then something happens, forcing us to think and ponder more. Till we learn our teachings, it keeps on happening.

Reincarnations are nothing but lessons in progress. We have learned a bit previously. We are learning currently, and we will again start from where we have left. Till the time we realize who we are beyond the go, this cycle will continue.

We can not drop our dense ego in an instant. Not that you can not. It has happened sometimes. But those are exceptions. It takes time to peel off this dense sticky layer we go on building and adorning.

Ego is to the true self what a flashlight is to a spotlight. ~John Bradshaw.

Accept Every Situation/Person in Life as Your Teacher

This world is full of perceptions. Each mind creates its unique narratives.

As much as you might want to change this world for the better, the better can never be the best. Historical wars and bloodshed are proof nobody in this world can change anyone. But themselves.

If you have an opinion, the world is full of contradicting voices that can falsify your perception. The trick is to go beyond any discernment or any mind-created fabrications. Root yourself in truth. Only truth liberates.

My friend could not forgive her husband. Does it affect him at all? By clinging on to hurt, she is suffering herself. Ultimately, she has to let go of all the pain and be. But it can not happen till she accepts the pain and hurt.

When life sucks you into a life situation, it becomes difficult to get out or even comprehend. It is easy to ignore the sh*t. Your ignorance makes it go away temporarily. But it is patiently waiting for you to recognize its presence.

You can never overcome the hurt by neglecting it.

You can go shopping, get busy in life, or make friends, but it will hound back when you are all alone.

Take your time—no need to rush. But accept whatever ugly is present in life. It is there to liberate you from the imprisonment of unseen chains the outside people or situations.

This universe is a perfect place, and nothing happens out of sheer coincidence. Every person, however evil may seem, are here to teach you something.

It can be love, forgiveness, compassion, kindness. These flowers bloom when you pass through the thorns.

Without experiencing hatred or hurt, you can not feel deep and divine love. Without handling criticism and anguish, one can not encounter success. Compassion comes when you recognize hate and inequality.

Wisdom is nothing more than healed pain. ~ Robert Gary Lee

The Path to Freedom Goes Through Intense Pain and Anguish

Have you heard the theory of self-awakening? It all lies within. All you have to do is watch yourself and accept the present moment.

It is so simple, yet millions don't achieve it. Why?

Because it goes through intense pain.

Run from pain and suffering if you want to take a blue pill. You can either run for eternity or can face and accept the miseries. Acceptance comes after intolerable pain and anguish. With acceptance comes freedom.

Most sufferings are mental and emotional constructs. But it feels real. It tears you apart. The baggage you carry is immense. The ignorance towards self is magnanimous. Therefore, it is difficult to see through the unpleasant life situation.

Yogic practices can minimize the pain in the heart but cannot make it entirely disappear. The person you have created out of you has to uncover the distressing illusions to discover the blissful truth.

Let your distress come in bits and parts if you feel overwhelmed. Then, take small steps towards freedom:

Acknowledge your sufferings.
Don’t run away from tears or cries. Instead, express your emotions and feelings in a safe environment.
Share your deep feelings in a close circle of empathic friends.
Take guidance and help from professionals.
Practice silence. It can be meditation, quiet walks, or showers.
Practice pranayama and yoga.

Takeaways

Your life situations are present for a specific purpose. Look beyond your limitations. Accept your suffering and pain. It isn't easy to do it at once. Take baby steps.

Do not run away from your emotional turmoil. They can make you free from all the miseries. Emotional pain is severe. If it is happening right now in your life, it means you can go through it. You are strong to handle it.

The gates to freedom lie through the path of suffering. Spirituality calls this suffering a ‘grace.’ Let it happen through you. Life is an intelligent force. Trust its process.

For most people, spiritual awakening is a gradual process. Rarely does it happen all at once. When it does, though, it is usually brought about by intense suffering. Often suffering is the trigger, or a spiritual teaching or both. Call it readiness or grace. This is the beginning of the awakening process. — Eckhart Tolle