"the pain entrusted to you" & more...

I recently heard two friends who are both mothers share this awareness that even their children we not “their’s” to own but merely Souls entrusted to them with unique paths that just happen to be born through them.  It reminded of another Sufi quote,

“Overcome any bitterness that may have come because you were not up to the magnitude of the pain that was entrusted to you.  Like the Mother of the World, who carries the pain of the world in her heart, each one of us is part of her heart, and therefore endowed with a certain measure of cosmic pain.”

I think most of the suffering experienced in the world today has to do with a denial, rejection or resistance to “cosmic pain” entrusted to each of us.  Some may see this as crazy and unrealistic or even unfair that, as the Indigo Girls say in their song “Galileo”, “and now i'm serving time for mistakes made by another in another lifetime.”  Because that’s what it can feel like, the kicker is that the “another” is ME, YOU, each of us.  There is a segmenting off of all the parts and pieces of ourselves which creates that greater and greater sense of separateness and disconnection and not feeling accepted or understood.  And the “dark night of the Soul” / depression / addiction / however it manifests for you THIS time is what brings us back to light -  allows us rebirth to our Higher Self.

So this “pain entrusted to you” becomes your fuel this lifetime potentially if you can be open to it.  Remember pain is a reality & guarantee, but suffering is optional – some would disagree, me being one of them at moments in my life.  Some of us need a little more of a beating before we can see but all of it has purpose.  We all hurt in different ways, yet in some universal sense, the greatness of my pain or joy is equivalent to yours, we just experience them in different way.  My only job is to be conscious of mine and respect yours – no understanding or interpreting or fixing required.  The main challenge is just to see it, know it, then accept it (i.e. let it be as it is because IT IS).

Our culture has in some ways encouraged pain yet sought out every means to avoid it like the plague.  It seems so paradoxical that the culture/media emphasizes “no pain, no gain” especially in regard to health or fitness with “weekend warrior boot camps” and programs like P90X that create this “burn baby burn” mottos to supposedly motivate people to “get fit” or “be healthy.”  To me it seems more ego / fear / punishment driven.  Don’t we punish ourselves enough, especially our bodies.  We get one body and the demands we put on it, not to mention how we blame “it” for everything, are the most unreasonable and unkind of all.  Research is showing more and more how linked our mind-body-spirit are, so why the punishing and pushing?  If our bodies are reflections and manifestations of the mind/emotions & Spirit, then wouldn’t it make more sense to love and care for them like we do infants and children?  Wouldn’t it make more sense to go to the core of problem we say is “physical” when in fact it’s always connected to mind & emotion.

So here is where we as a culture shift from pain and punishment of our external bodies (as if they are not part of us but some alien thing we live in – which is sorta true but that’s another story) to the total avoidance of anything remotely close to discomfort much less pain.  It is with much sadness that I say that most of what we call “medicine” today is merely temporary bandaging of the external wound for symptom relief.  Granted, not all doctors or medical professionals (even mental health) practice in this manner but I seem to see and hear about it much more than not.

What would it be like to be treated as a Whole Being vs. a sick/wounded body when you went to the doctor or therapist?

One of my teachers recently reminded me how as a culture we constantly refer to our bodies and their ailments/failings, but what’s more tragic is not that we speak of sickness of the body but we overly identify with our bodies, which are only the gross part of us, and say “I am sick,” when in fact, my soul, my life energy which underlies and manifests in the physical, is NEVER SICK.  As my teacher said, our energy might be stuck or depleted or in excess in some way, but my Soul is never “sick.”

So it may seem like I’ve presented another paradox.  Let me clarify: identify with your body but don’t “over”-identify with it because we are not JUST A BODY.  Another teacher and mentor of mine always reminds me that our bodies are our most reliable and loving teachers, if we will simply sit down and listen to what it has to show us that we have been ignoring or avoiding in other parts of our lives.  Our bodies are our last line of communication and defense so to speak in our overall health and well-being, and I’m not talking about just physical health.  Illness or better yet “dis-ease” starts energetically/emotionally/mentally.  Culturally, we “believe” that illness comes from germs, bacteria, viruses, etc., but that’s because it’s all we can “see” and “measure” and “prove” with our gross 5 senses.  For millennia, ancient spiritual practitioners like yogis and shamans have been cultivating their higher senses that cannot be “measured” by the larger world because the larger world has not cultivated these “siddhis,” supernormal perceptual states attained through spiritual devotion & practice.  These practitioners have outlined energetic systems that overlay and work with our physical anatomy.  Yoga postures, breathing techniques, meditation visualizations and more were found to connect these practitioners to these subtler aspects of themselves where “dis-ease” first began.  They were able to map out for normal 5-sensed people what else was happening that could first be noticed through a person’s emotions and thoughts.  They showed how mind states and emotions could eventually manifest physically if not addressed in the early stages. 

Ever hear people say, “I can’t think about that or it’ll make me sick.”  Ever feel sick to your stomach, when you hear sad news or experience it.  Ever hear someone talk about how they’re afraid of “getting cancer or losing their job” and eventually they end up with health problems and/or jobless.

We create our realities, and most of the time it starts out with a belief, thought or feeling and even those are tied closely to each other. The yogis and the shamans and all the practitioners like this train on subtlety of movement, sensation, breath, etc. in order to gain access towards the subtle inner body. 

So, how might your life be different if instead of pounding out 45-minutes on the stair climber and 45-minutes on the free weights hoping to burn the most calories and build the best looking body on the outside, you went to a quiet place where you could slowly move your body and notice what it was like to make your movement match your breath.  To notice how you felt emotionally when you stepped into a deep lunge and held it for 10 breathes.  To notice what thoughts and opinions ran through your mind as you tried to simply sit and feel your breath or the breeze move across your face. 

Unfortunately, if we all don’t have it then no one will believe it as a “legitimate” means of measurement or ability (even though some people are blind, deaf, color-blind, etc. - if you’re not in the majority then it’s hard to be seen and heard).  If we can’t “feel it big” then it must not be worth it.  How long will it take and how much suffering must we endure in order to realize that there is more to life and health and happiness than what we experience with our 5 senses. 

Free yourself from your limited beliefs that cause you to suffer because all beliefs are simply that, limits to us experiencing our greatest potential, our deepest peace.


I'll leave you with this amazing quote by Swami Kripalu.

"My Beloved Child,
Break your heart no longer. 
Each time you judge yourself 
You break your own heart.
You stop feeding on the love
which is the wellspring of your vitality.

The time has come-Your time-
To live-To celebrate-
To see the goodness that you are.

You my child, are divine. 
You are pure.
You are sublimely free. 
You are God in disguise. 
And you are always perfectly safe.

Do not fight the dark 
Just turn on the light. 
Let go
And breathe into the goodness that you are."

Namaste. (I honor the Divine Light of Truth that lives in you and in me and in all living beings.)