The word suffering only makes one uncomfortable and makes an image of people battling poverty, sorrow, grief, loss, etc…
Fewer people know that buddha stated suffering to be one of the noble truths of the world and of life. It’s as true as a simple description of left and right. If there is a left, there has to be a right. You can’t describe something to be at your left if a right side does not exist. This same principle follows suffering. There can be no joy without suffering, no happiness without sorrow. Both have to exist in the realms of the world.
Most of us have heard the story of how a boy in his biology class thought of helping a caterpillar which was suffering and struggling to come out of its cocoon by breaking it and letting it come out resulting in the death of the beautiful butterfly.
Astonished and surprised and filled with grief the boy went to his biology teacher and narrated the whole incident stating that he even helped the butterfly with its struggle.
The teacher smiled and told the boy that the suffering of caterpillar in trying to break the cocoon only makes its wings strong, the more it tries to push and come out of the cocoon, more liquid from cocoon fills its wings and after a duration of struggle and pain, a beautiful butterfly is born breaking the cocoon.
This is true with our lives as well.
I don’t want to write things that this is how god plan for us and all because we all keep hearing things from everyone around whenever we hit the rock bottom. The irony of today’s situation is such that a person who has never had trouble with acidity would give advice on how to get a bypass surgery done. Advice is often given and seldom taken.
This all can be summed up in beautiful lines by Robin Sharma in his book named – The 5 AM Club
ALL CHANGES ARE TERRIBLE IN THE BEGINNING
CONFUSING IN THE MIDDLE
AND WONDERFUL AT THE END
-Inaya