Painful though experiences have been, they made us a stronger person, better able to understand the reality of life
Suffering has many dimensions, and perhaps the most common is physical pain. Everyone suffered it at some time, in varying degrees. It can be constructive: a useful warning that something is wrong or that some of our habits are unhealthy; it gives us a chance to correct things. A different kind of pain is emotional and spiritual anguish suffered by all of us when we lose a loved one. Bereavement disrupts the whole structure of our lives and throws us into chaos. It can feel similar to physical pain and indeed can cause it.
Analgesics can relieve the symptoms but cannot remove the cause.
Every relationship carries the possibility of pain: to risk loving someone is to risk the pain of losing them.
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Some people seek to escape pain through pleasure, the abuse of alcohol or drugs; some are driven to despair and suicide. Some seek solace in religion while others blame God for their troubles and reject it all. Yet the experience of pain always has some positive aspects: it can increase our compassion for others, and our understanding of what other people may be feeling, even when their experience is different from our own.
- The tears of my soul, Sokreaksa S. Himm
