Suffering Is Optional

Today I walked into CVS and was overcome with the smell of cinnamon pinecones.

I am super sensitive to smells and those pinecones give me a huge headache.

As I walked around the store I proceeded to complain to my son how ridiculous it was that they had these out before Halloween, how rude it was for them to cause me this pain, how stinky it was, the tackiness of the fake smell, and on and on and on.

I had a headache and then I piled more and more suffering on with my complaining.

Pain is part of life, but suffering is optional.

This isn't the only place I do it, there are a lot of areas I do it if I don't pay attention.

This totally shows up in our mixed faith relationships.

When a loved one leaves the church that can be painful.

We add more suffering by thinking: this isn't fair, I didn't sign up for this, I have been robbed, they ruined my eternal family, this shouldn't be happening, and on and on and on.

We take something hard (on a scale of 1-10 lets say it's a 8.5) and then we make it a 15 with they way we think about it.

Pain is a part of life...suffering is optional.

I can help you with both.