Suffering unnecessarily is like refusing to take thorns out of your butt

Which thorn might you choose to remove this week?

The following quote, made famous by Haruki Murakami, is an old Buddhist saying:

“Pain is inevitable: suffering is optional”

This might seem like a strange post to be sending you on a Monday - my head tells me I should be sending something uplifting at the start of the week. And yet have we not become used to suffering even though we hate it? As if it’s a given in modern life? What if we were to challenge this assumption?

Let’s look at ways we suffer first. You may well have your own versions - my list isn’t exhaustive (sadly).

After you’ve read this list, I would like to invite you to choose one to practice letting go of this week and to see what difference this makes to your experience of life.

We suffer because:

• We compare ourselves to others

• We don’t walk our own path

• We judge ourselves (as inadequate; not good enough; a failure; a fraud etc)

• We judge others

• We should all over ourselves

• We deny our truth

• We follow the herd not our hearts

• We ignore our callings/yearnings

• We don’t listen to our inner wisdom

• We mistrust and doubt ourselves

• We hang onto old stories and patterns

• We believe the voice in our head especially when it’s negative

• We wander around as sheep when we’re actually pink flamingos!

Let me know which ones I’ve missed 🤔

At the start of your working week:

• If you were to practice letting go of one of these this week, which one would make the biggest difference?

• Will you choose that for yourself?

Bonus points for putting the one you’re going after this week in the comments box. Accountability is proven to help people follow through. Let’s help each other remove these pesky thorns. I’m going to practice not “shoulding” myself. You?