By Liz Glover Wilson

I hope you don’t mind if I get personal. In our last blog (READ HERE), we are reminded that pain is inevitable, but we have learned that suffering is OPTIONAL!

you never just suffer the thing that you’re suffering. You also suffer from your interpretive grid that adds layers of pain to the pain you’re already enduring - Author and Pastor, Dr. Paul Tripp

It was a couple of days, that suffering came ‘knocking on my door’. Doubt, worry, and envy all showed up at once! These pesty trappings of suffering can be sneaky.

You see, I was tired from a long day of work, and hungry. Depleted. My gaurd was down. Ever have those moments? I just wanted to unwind and get to bed.

As I pulled into the driveway, worry greeted me before I even got out of the car and I gave in. As I walked down the path to the front door, their was envy - messing with my inner security, and by the time I stepped inside the house I was full of doubt!

Blurred by fatigue, I felt like crumbling inside. These trappings (doubt, worry, envy) were consuming me and fogging my thoughts, then I REMEMBERED. . . and that made all the difference.

The root causes of suffering are explained in the Yoga Sutras of Pantajali Sutra 2.3: (Sanskrit: avidyā-asmitā-rāga-dveṣa-abhiniveśā kleśa). Known as the (kleśas), they are:

1. ignorance

2. egoism

3. attachment

4. aversion

5. clinging to bodily life

That first obstacle is called Avidya (ignorance), and is the not-knowing. Not knowing we have a CHOICE to suffer. When we are unaware of the spiritual nature of Self, and the transcendent Self, we get stuck in endless cycles of suffering.

When we begin to know, through study and contempation, that we can choose - then ignorance is no longer an option. We then can perform the action of choosing to not suffer in full awareness; replacing old patterns with new liberating ones.

Now, I have to be real with you here. Once I remembered that I had a CHOICE to hang out with doubt, worry and envy - it took some time to work through the layers and kick them out. You see I had to work throughout the night and into the next morning to ACTIVELY replace worry with (my good friends) gratitude, and prayer. I focused on all things that I was grateful for. I prayed uplifting prayers and mantras; shifting my thought pattern to positivity.

Now envy was a tough one to shake, because this insecurity is one of my oldest pests. Envy was replaced through the process of positive self-affirmations, and visualization. To really squish envy, I reached out to a good friend and spent quality time with her; filling myself with positive vibes - not complaining or even telling her what I was going through, but listening to her and being a good friend. This allowed me to find inner security and joy. Envy/insecurity left.

Finally, there was doubt. Truthfully, by the time I got to doubt it was pretty deflated. Doubt without worry or envy, didn’t have much strength. But just to make sure I had truly shifted my interpretative grid, I brought what was left to G_d and surrendered. Recognizing my limits as a human being, I released any of the left-over stagnant and sufficating threats of suffering to the Divine.

Then, I went and served others with my heart and actions all day. I looked for ways to uplift others, spread love and gratitude.

Bye bye pesty trappings!

For now.

Yes, of course they will come back. That is their job.

Mine “job” is to live in the KNOWING. Knowing that through steady study, and shifting - these trappings will become weakened and disolve.

In conclusion, there is (unavoidable) pain, but we have the CHOICE on how much (or little) we suffer.

We suffer mainly because we don't know that we don't have to suffer!

We then need the strength and PATIENCE for the process to build new habits and a stronger thought process.

This will take time.

Understanding Samskara संस्कार can be helpful.

Samskara is a Sanskrit term, derived from two roots;

• sam meaning ‘well planned’ or ‘well thought out’, and

• kara meaning ‘the action under-taken.’

As such, it is believed that actions performed with full awareness have the greatest impact, leaving impressions which are more easily traced and repeated.

Samskaras serve as memory stores that hold all past experiences in perfect detail. When memories are recalled, samskaras come back to the level of the conscious mind in waves of recollection. Each time a samskara is recalled and repeated, the groove gets deeper and the impression gets stronger, ultimately leading to the formation of habits.

So next time those pesty trappings come to visit me, I will have this recent memory and can draw from this experience and, again, overcome the suffeirng. One experience at a time.

To reframe and form new habits is to - patiently - replace the old. To move past the not-knowing, focus on these five things each time suffering comes to your door.

• Count your blessings

• Find people to hold your hands up

• Serve

• Pray

• Surrender

Now that you know, I pray that you find the courage, the strength and the self love you need to journey.

Stephen Cope, in The Wisdom of Yoga, says “Even after we’ve stopped putting energy into our patterns, they continue to play themselves out. The good news, though, is that thepractice of witnessing also continues. just watch. See that the patterns are ‘not me’.”

Allow yourself lots of GRACE my friend for this journey.

We are all here on this planet together.

Let’s lift each other up.