How to Free Yourself from Suffering

Tragedy eventually strikes all of us. It’s simply a matter of time. Knowing how to accept what comes- is the difference between a life of Suffering and a life of Freedom.

To those who are suffering and to those who are unprepared mentally for what may occur, I implore you to start practicing acceptance.

The Illusion of Suffering

Spirituality is simply coming to accept Reality as It Is.

Most times, we drift within our illusory worlds, unable to move beyond our beliefs of what should be, and we wallow within the suffering of our own creation.

Suffering Itself is a self-fulfilled, fully encapsulated illusion.

Identity- is illusion.

Desire for Life to be other than It Is- is illusion.

Suffering within this illusory world- is illusion.

Now, our initial reaction to this is: “Impossible. I’m right here. This is me. This is my Life. I am living it. My suffering is real. I feel it…”

Lost within the voice of our own protestation- we miss the whole illusion.

The protester IS the illusion.

• We never question ourselves.
• We never question our inner voice.
• We never doubt the Reality of our “personhood”.

Who speaks? Who protests? Who suffers?

Suffering- is really like choking upon our own memories- upon our own learned assumptions.

Use your Difficulties

Yet, if we take the time to reflect, we can turn our suffering to our own advantage. These deep feelings can be observed.

Allow tragedy to become a useful tool. When life hammers at us, we have a choice:

• We can allow the experiences to strike what binds us and make the suffering binds tighter, or…
• We can direct the hammering of experience to break the links that imprison us within the facade of identity.

Like most of us, I’ve had my experiences of tragedy:

• My mother misinterpreted the early signs of colon cancer, and passed away too early in 2011. Had she visited a doctor sooner, she would most likely still be alive today.
• My stepson Mark, passed from a drug overdose in early 2017, after a seven year battle with addiction and a more recent diagnosis of schizophrenia. Mark lived a full life in his short time here, even though he never made it to his 20th birthday.

Mark in particular taught me much about Life. The long battle to try and control his addiction took a toll on me. I was always a controller. I wanted life to be a certain way. With his struggles, I wanted life to be other than it was. I wanted him to get better. I wanted to stop being so fearful of what might be. I wanted certainty and life would give me nothing of the kind…

Mark’s difficulties led to my Awakening. Source hammered at me until I released control. I learned that there was nothing to control. There was in fact, nobody who could in control.

There was only life and life was to be lived as it came:

• Help where we can help.
• Care where we can care.
• Let be what we cannot control.
• Accept all that comes.
• Love Everyone as they are.

The ego-mind is steeped in layers of complexity. Level upon level of conditioning is added as we experience each new day, compounding upon itself and reinforcing our deluded view of the world.

It’s all very unreal.

What we experience is real, but the imagined way in which we experience is an illusion.

Take the time to question if your opinions, judgments and expectations are Reality- or are they just habitual conditioned thoughts born out of memory?

Ode to My Angel

I would like to finish by sharing a few words I wrote about Mark after his passing. These were read at his church service:

“Our little boy came in this world, with beaming smile and cheerful eyes, as all boys do.

We hugged and cared and laughed and played and loved.

And as Mark grew, we pushed him on with gentle hands.

He looked back with hopeful eyes and eager smile, and nodded he’d do his best to make us proud.

The rush of life came as it does and time slipped by, and in a blink our little boy was now a man.

Despite the cloudy days that swept on in, he’d always keep his charming smile and draw you in with love and carefree, twinkling eyes.

When storms grew fierce with howling winds and pounding rain, Mark’s eyes still shined with warmth and care. He’d always let you know how much he loved.

Courageous steps, he took those days. Only he can know how strong he had to be to rise above the angry seas. How brave he was to face and stand against the endless crashing waves.

And through it all, his kindly smile would tell us not to worry. He’d always try the best he could to make us proud.

As days grew long his charming smile took on a knowing and peaceful look. Loving eyes shared the secret he’d kept from us.

We watched him shed the heavy, broken wings he’d tirelessly worn so long.

Beneath, he blazed with brilliant light. Golden wings unfurled. He soared back to the Eternal Father’s deep embrace. God nodded, kissed his head, and praised him for a job well done.

His secret was he wore those broken wings so long — for us — to teach the way to love and live the way that life was meant to be.

Just simply always love — unconditionally.

It wasn’t he who needed help from us — but us who needed him to show the way.

He looks down with pride and rests at ease. He knows he taught us more than we will ever know.

We love you Mark for who you are, for what you gave, for how you loved us back — as only you could do with open heart and beaming smile and twinkling, cheerful eyes.”

• Mark was Source.
• Source is Life.
• Source is Love.
• Life is Love.

Let Source move our body-minds as we were meant to move…