Post by Susan Peabody on Nov 16, 2012 14:47:13 GMT -8
M. Scott Peck, in The Road Less Traveled, said Americans don't know how to experience "legitimate suffering."
I have always said your ability to get through withdrawal depends on your willingness to suffer with humility and grace.
Quotes about Pain
There is no coming to consciousness without pain. Carl Jung
Pain happens to us; suffering is a choice. Susan Peabody
[Pain] removes the veil; it plants the flag of truth within the fortress of a rebel soul. C.S. Lewis
To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering. Friedrich Nietzsche
We cannot learn without pain. Aristotle
Adversity introduces a man to himself. Unknown
Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching, and has taught me to understand what your heart used to be. I have been bent and broken, but I hope into better shape. Charles Dickens
If thou art willing to suffer no adversity, how wilt thou be the friend of Christ? Thomas Kempis
Do not, I beseech you, be troubled by the increase of forces already in dissolution. You have mistaken the hour of the night: it is already morning. G.K. Chesterton
He will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD [Higher Power] will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth. The LORD has spoken. Isaiah 25:8
He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. Revelation 21:8
Some Short Thoughts on Pain, Brokenness, and Community
Author Anonymous
Author Anonymous
I've recently been able to hear the painful stories of people that I care about and spend healthy amounts of time with mostly people that are younger than me (and some that are not). I've been trying to figure out exactly how to process/understand it all in such a way that I can react with more than just sitting on it, bemoaning it, or just plain crying about it. It got me interested in others thoughts about pain and brokenness and how we as individuals and communities are to deal with the hurt that exists just below the surface in every relationship we have.
The above quotes are just a small cross-section of thoughts about pain that I was able to find. Don Delillo, in his short story Still-Life, writes of how kids can come to expect the worst once they experienced the worst and I feel like adults are no different. Once (or however many times) we've been through the ringer, do we really buy into the idea that we won't experience that same pain or something similar to it again?
Hearing the stories that I've heard over the last couple weeks forces me to ask how the pain that we carry affects the decisions we make day in an day out especially when it comes to expectations. How can you dream about your future when your past dreams have been destroyed by abuse, addiction, failure, lack of support, mental instability, exploitation, etc.? How can you have hope when it's been dashed so many times in the past.
One thing that I have learned of late is that pain brings deep cohesion within a community once it's shared [LAA]. The suffering doesn't necessarily end, nor do the community's problem resolve themselves, but now the community knows each other deeply and can now care for each other in the most significant of ways. But it's getting the community to that vulnerable place that takes so much work. How much do I enjoy sharing the stuff I cling to?
"I'm still discovering, right up to this moment, that it is only by living completely in this world that one learns to have faith. I mean living unreservedly in life's duties, problems, successes and failures, experiences and perplexities. In so doing, we throw ourselves completely into the arms of God." Dietrich Bonhoeff
From Susan, aka Butterflygirl . . . You are not alone. We all suffer. Share your pain but do not let it define you.
The secret to moving beyond pain is positive thinking, aka "look for the silver lining," "this too shall pass," "the glass is half full, and my favorite ""have a brighter tomorrow."
Of course, if all else fails . . . pray for the pain to be lifted. Pray with humility. This is very important. To stay humble when you pray for something you end the supplication with "thy will be done." "Thy" is your Higher Power or God as you understand God. I cannot imagine life without a "Thy" in my life.
Susan Peabody