Suffering? Miserable? Three Kinds of Misery You Can Beat

Suffering? Miserable? I have distinguished Three Causes You Have Control Over…

Motto: Pain is inevitable, Suffering is optional

Most everybody gets miserable and suffering from time to time. Some more, some less.

I used to be miserable and suffering more than most… and I had no idea how to get out of it. It was like a deep hole, and the bright happy world was outside of the hole, and definitely outside of my reach.

This morning I got a phone call from a friend who was going to share a breakthrough with me.

To escape Hurricane Irene she drove up to her brother’s house for the weekend. Her brother lives far enough from the Coast to be safe.

So, what was the breakthrough? I asked. Oh, every time we get here, all we can see is the piles of beer cans, the piles of leaves, the overgrown tomatoes, the piles of rubble. This time I said to myself: this is deconstruction that happens before rebuilding, so it’s OK.