How Suffering Brings Us Closer To Peace

Read time: 2 mins

Quote of the Week:

"The lotus blooms most beautifully from the deepest and thickest mud." – Buddhist Proverb

In this week's dose, I share why our deepest struggles may hold our greatest growth. 

Sarah Blondin is an incredible angelic meditation teacher I found through the Insight Timer App and my favorite quote of hers is “Pain is the portal to the divine.”

It’s simply about using our suffering to deepen ourselves spiritually.

When we struggle, it’s not about eliminating the hurt but about opening our heart to hold it. It’s not about ridding ourselves of pain or sadness, it’s about expanding our field of love so much that it makes enough space for us to hold the pain or sadness. It’s in the quieting of the mind that we enter a space of deep calm and presence.

One thing I’ve struggled with is taking the lessons personally. Feeling guilt or shame about the fact that I’m experiencing struggles. If I’m going through challenges, it must mean I’m bad. It must mean I’m not good enough to avoid these feelings. Of course, a deeper knowing within me realizes this isn’t truth. It’s just my survival mind and my ego at play.

What if we have to struggle? What if it’s the best way for us to learn?

Neem Karoli Baba said “I love suffering. It brings me closer to God. You get knowledge from suffering.”

Ahh, well, that’s a different way to look at it. Whether you use the G word or something entirely different, the essence of the quote is what moves me.

It’s all just a lesson. Everything is happening just as it’s supposed to. It’s all perfect.

What a shift in perspective.

Not just to see suffering as a lesson, but to LOVE it because of all it does for me. At first, it seems counterintuitive, but there’s a part of me that resonates with it—a part that knows it holds truth.

I like entertaining the idea that we - as souls - CHOSE this specific incarnation. We intentionally picked out the unique set of circumstances and ingredients to experience because they will help us grow where we need to most.

Do I know that to be true? Nope. But it helps me view my challenges, suffering, insecurities, and inadequacies in a totally different light.

When I take on the perspective that I’m going through these things for growth, then it helps me have more grace and compassion for myself as I go through them. It helps me not to identify with my personality, thoughts, or beliefs, but instead to identify with the awareness that is behind it all. The awareness that is tapped into and connected to everyone else’s awareness. It enables me to get a peek into experiencing everything as one.

And everything as being perfect just as it is.

How would it feel if you embraced your challenges as opportunities for growth?
Could you see your struggles through a different lens?