Purpose Behind Suffering and Loss

Suffering and Loss has Purpose

Pain has purpose. The purpose of pain, suffering and loss, is to provide an opportunity to go deeper, and to discover something within the Self that has been forgotten.

The Soul’s journey through this human experience, entails many experiences – duality, separation, loss, redemption, liberation and love. All perceived mistakes or suffering and challenges that we experience arise out of the feelings of being disconnected, less than, unworthy, ashamed or broken. All beings experience these feelings one way or another, in the world of Maya (Earth), the world of illusion.

Pain’s purpose is to go deeper within the Self, open the heart and cultivate compassion for others. From there, the heart can empathize with a person’s suffering, can inspire, and remind an individual of their true origin. Pain does not exist to torture. It’s purpose is to soften the heart and bring you back home. Your home is your true essence – the observer behind the human experience – the eternal energy of Spirit.

Healing from Suffering and Loss can not be rushed

We all want a quick way out. But healing and transformation can not be rushed. It happens in it’s own time, and in it’s own way. But when we come home to our true self, we discover that we are not separate from anyone or anything; we are never truly alone. Our Spirit really is ‘one‘ with everyone and everything. Being ‘one’ is not a concept anyone has been “taught” to be true, or a concept that anyone “knows” to be true. It becomes an experience we feel to be true.

Suffering is the motivator for introspection and true self discovery; sometimes we are forced to dig deep inside of ourselves. The truth is, we do not feel the motivation unless we are suffering, and the rug has been pulled from underneath us in some way. Suffering serves as a fuel in our lives. A fuel that serves as a catalyst for transformation.

Suffering and Loss breaks the heart wide open

The natural and automatic reaction when feeling pain emotionally or physically, is to close down or pull back. With regards to the experiences of the heart, the opposite of closing down and pulling back is necessary for healing. Heavy loss can leave a person feeling completely broken, vulnerable and without direction. It can also shatter someone emotionally into a million pieces, throwing them into the alchemical fire of transformation, to be reformed into something more authentic, beautiful and powerful.

In these moments of devastating loss, the challenge is to keep the heart open. To not close down the heart and body. To receive love and support in a myriad of ways that life presents.

Suffering and Loss provides the opportunity to practice tools of coping

Whether it be formal religion, spirituality, natural perceptions or beliefs, suffering gives us the opportunity to reflect on what truly supports and strengthens us. Experiencing the challenge of loss, unworthiness or suffering – of any kind – puts us in a situation where we feel desperate, finally humble, and open to receive. It’s in this state of vulnerability, we are open to receive love in ways we never expected, and ultimately surrendering our personal myths for something greater.

The practice of receiving love from others and from Spirit is crucial to our experience of connection and unity. Life is about giving and receiving, as well as remembering who we truly are. There are times to give, and there are times to receive. To learn how to nurture the Self, through compassion, self-care, and connection to Spirit, we balance the forces of giving and receiving within ourselves. We can not truly give, if we do not know how to receive.

To explore the bigger questions in life like, Who Am I? or What is my purpose in life? leads a person back to the energy inside, which is the place of true origin and the authentic self. This questioning brings awareness of the eternal strength and power that leads to knowledge of truth within, and truth within can never be broken.

Suffering and Loss can give clues into Life’s Purpose

Everyone’s purpose is to discover the light and love within themselves. Suffering initiates this recognition of Spirit within, when we discover we are not our “stories”. That in truth, our pain and suffering does not define us.

Transformation experienced from pain, allows an individual to genuinely help others work through their own challenges. Helping others through their own suffering is one of the most fulfilling spiritual ventures a person can experience.

Sharing the energy of love and wisdom with those closest to us, extending it out, continuously widening our circle of influence to all those we come into contact with, creates feelings of purpose and peace. It’s at these times we recognize that all things happen for a reason, and that pain carries purpose.