“A man’s suffering is similar to the behavior of gas. If a certain quantity of gas is pumped into an empty chamber, it will fill the chamber quickly and evenly, no matter how big the chamber. Thus suffering fills completely the human soul and the conscious mind, no matter whether the suffering is great or little. Therefore the “size” of human suffering is [ABSOLUTELY RELATIVE].” ~ Viktor Frankl
Suffering
occurs when:
What’s happened in your life does
not match your model of the world.
When you believe with absolute certainty
that you’re powerless to change it.
Basically, we suffer when we have the limiting belief that we have no control over our life.
Difference between pain and suffering:
Pain is a fact of life, it’s inevitable.
Suffering comes from feeling powerless
to stop the pain and change it.
If we can’t stop the pain, we can change
our model of the world to find an
empowering meaning.
“In some ways, suffering ceases
— Viktor Frankl, Neurologist,
to be suffering the moment
it finds meaning…”
Holocaust Survivor
Finding an empowering and positive meaning is
accomplished by exercising Gratitude, Love and
Growth in our lives. And they must be exercised daily.
The Dalai Lama writes, “We don’t need more money, we don’t need greater success or fame, we don’t need the perfect body or even the perfect mate–right now, at this very moment, we have a mind, which is all the basic equipment we need to achieve complete happiness.”
Gratitude
“When you direct your focus toward gratitude, you’ll find true joy and fulfillment” ~Tony Robbins
“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues but the parent of all others.”
~ Marcus Tullius Cicero
“Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.” ~ Oprah Winfry
Growth
“One can choose to go back toward safety or forward toward growth. Growth must be chosen again and again; fear must be overcome again and again” ~ Abraham Maslow
“Life is growth. If we stop growing, technically and spiritually, we are as good as dead.” ~Morihei Ueshiba
Love
“A thought transfixed me: for the first time in my life I saw the truth as it is set into song by so many poets, proclaimed as the final wisdom by so many thinkers. The truth–that love is the ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire. Then I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to part: the salvation of man is through love and in love.” ~ Viktor Frankl
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