To Suffer

I feel suffering when there’s friction between my experience and my expression. When a person is unable to be a vessel for the expression of experience, that pent-up way of living is heavy, enduring, and full of inertia. Suffering.

Transcending the pain isn’t with more friction. Resistance will add friction. Transcending occurs with a deep and total surrender—a willingness to be destroyed. Past the suffering is a thrilling space of pure aliveness and connection.

When I resist feeling the suffering in the first place, that creates more of the same. Like a tire spinning on concrete—the friction creates a gross, burning tire stench in the air.

The pain of friction indicates that I care. I care about my loved ones so much that when they die, my heart is wrenched open and the emotional pain is so great, it feels physical.

So, to transcend is to express. Be a vessel for the humanity of it all. Express that you care. That your heart is broken. Or full. Move words, sounds, body shapes, breath in and out of your body. To truly suffer is to stay in suffering. Feeling pain itself is a part of your gift as a caring, loving human being. Surrender the friction for movement.