I woke up this morning with a very clear message, “Release the fear of suffering.” This meditation has followed me through my morning practice and into my day and now onto my blog. My sense is this might turn into a series of musings on this very rich topic…
When I woke with the message, I snuggled in with Scott and shared it with him. He then told me he was restless all night, convinced he was having a recurrence of chronic wrist pain. After work with a skilled PT and healer recently, it had completely stopped with only minor, occasional twinges and some soreness if he used his hands a lot during the day. Finally, he got up and went to get his wrist brace. “As I was walking over to get it, I realized my wrist didn’t hurt. I must have been dreaming, afraid of the pain coming back.”
An example from my own life is my tendency to catastrophize and imagine the worst happening instead of the best. These days I often find myself awash in my fears for Mother Earth and what will happen in the future because of human activities which are seriously damaging the biosphere. I can lose myself in despair and hopelessness if I let my mind continue down this spiral of thought.
Isn’t this how it goes? We cause suffering in the present because we are fearful of suffering in the future. We can become obsessed with trying to control our future to avoid suffering, or become frozen with despair. Oftentimes, that which we fear either doesn’t come to pass or is much less scary than we’d imagined. How much more suffering do we endure as a result of our fear? How much of our life do we waste worrying, strategizing, controlling, withdrawing, isolating ourselves, bracing against pain (which can cause more pain due to chronic tension from muscle guarding) and despairing in hopelessness?
One of my favorite teachers is Ekhart Tolle who wrote The Power of Now. He asks, are you in danger now? Are you in pain now? What is true in this moment? He encourages us to live more in the moment, the only one we truly have. He asks us to trust that if we are fully present right NOW all will be well and we will clearly know what response to make to whatever is in front of us. It is the only space in which we can transform our own lives and the world in which we live.
How might our lives be different if we released our fear of suffering in the future? Waiting for the other shoe to drop? The pain to return? The bottom to fall out? The world to end?
In my experience, we create in our life and our world that which we dwell upon in our thoughts. What if we spent more time focusing on what we would like to create instead of what we fear? What if we embrace hope, peace, lovingkindness? What miracles could happen if we take action from that place?
Very well thought out and expressed and it’s so true. I come from a whole family of “worriers”. In fact, my paternal grandmother was the champion. I asked her about it one time and her response was, “If I didn’t have something to worry about, I’d be worried”. It’s a difficult habit to kick. But, I do totally agree with you. It does no good TO worry about what might happen in the future…….we need to live for now. There are only so many things we CAN control in life. The world has survived quite well over time with AND without us humans. I suspect it will continue to do so with a little thought and caring. Thank you so much for your thoughtful insight and sharing it.