Suffer well

I watched My Year of Living Mindfully this weekend. While the documentary was basically what you'd expect from a film about mindfulness, there was one line that stood out for me.

Meditation is teaching me how to suffer.

This is true, meditation, and learning to be aware and present to our bodies, emotions, and thoughts, will not dissolve suffering, rather help you to stare it in the face, see and experience it fully, but not get entangled in it.

It's not the pain that is the problem, it's our thoughts and emotional reaction about and to the pain that is causing us anxiety.

If you are new to meditation or want to give it a go, you are welcome to watch my intro on it here, it's one of seven practices that form the basics in the Palaestra, our community of practice.

Get skin in the game, suffer well.

Pierre