Is suffering a necessary part of my spiritual path?

Most of you have heard of the expression ”No pain, no gain”. You may be an ardent proponent of that philosophy. I want to let you know that pain is not an indicator of growth; it is a measure of your resistance to growth. It is a sign that you are doing something destructive to your physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual well-being in your current incarnation. When you touch a hot burner on the stove, the message is not to hold on as long as you can so that you become stronger and wiser. The point is to let go as soon as possible. I would be the last to tell you that you will not encounter pain on your spiritual path. Many of you may have chosen a spiritual path in order to deal with the misery in your life. What I wish to be among the first to tell you is that the avoidance of suffering is the quickest and most direct route to realizing your ascension. The cross is not the symbol that Jesus would have chosen to represent his teachings. His message was not one of agony, but one of love and joy. My message goes a step further. It is that life is meant to be a joy and that the solution to your problems is always to choose the easy way.

Let’s go back to the hot burner story. The idea is to stop doing whatever is causing the pain as soon as possible. With the burner, the next step is obvious. You take your hand away and think long and hard before placing it there again. Things may be less obvious with the discomfort you are experiencing in your life. The pain may be subtler. It may be of a mental or emotional nature, or it may be physical but the cause may be difficult to diagnose.

Where do you start in letting it go? Begin by being willing to ask for help. How many of you experience that the times when you are the most depressed and feeling the most hopeless and helpless about your situation are the times that you choose to hole up all by yourself? These are the times when you don’t reach out for help. Somewhere in your programming may be the thought that you need to handle things alone, or maybe you are embarrassed by your present state, or maybe you are simply overwhelmed by lethargy. You may believe that progress can only come through great struggle. This energy is all the working of your ego. It wants you to stay stuck where you are. For your ego, this is a safe place. You are not your ego. You are a divine, innocent child of God. Spirit wants to support you, but you have to ask for help. You deserve to be free of pain. Ask for help.

Now that you have freed yourself up from emotional and physical paralysis, you can use the five-step process to end the distress. The first step is to state succinctly what the problem is. This is best done with one sentence. Write it down. Describe the uncomfortable energy as you perceive it. The second step is to work with the emotional energy you are feeling in your body connected to this problem.

With your emotional energy feeling balanced it is time to move to the third step. Restate the problem, but take full responsibility for it. Let’s say, for example, that your problem is, ”My spouse never supports me in the things I wish to do”. Taking responsibility might look like saying, ”I have created the illusion that my spouse never supports me” or ”I have created having a spouse who does not support me”. Now you are speaking truth. You are in charge of this incarnation. It is all your creation. Is this what you wish to create? Because you have ordered what is, you can choose something different.

The fourth step is to choose the easy way. What is it that you wish to experience? It is your choice, so claim whatever it is that you truly desire. Listen to your heart. In the previous example, you might choose, ”I always feel supported”, or ”I always support myself completely”, or ”Spirit absolutely supports my every choice”.  As you are making the transition from the first step to the fourth step, I want to remind you of a couple of things. First, the full transformation is not likely to be experienced overnight. This is not because you lack the power; it is because a part of you is probably still holding on to the old belief. Be patient with yourself. Take responsibility when you become aware of the old pattern. Repeat the process (that’s actually the fifth step). You will get there. It will get easier and easier each time you do it. Secondly, be aware that you may have the belief that healing is hard, that it is painful. If you recognize that pattern, write it down, take responsibility, and choose ease and painlessness. It is that easy. Remember the pain does serve a function, but that is only to serve as a wake-up call. Once you are awake you have no use for it. You want to be aware, but you also wish to be pain free. Wake up and enjoy your life. That is why you chose to come. Party on.

God Blesses You,

Sanhia