How Can We Find Joy in the Midst of Our Suffering?

"All happiness is born of love; Love gains meaning from adversity, so to suffer is to call upon the heart’s desire to conquer sadness."

How can we find Joy in the midst of our suffering? Don’t jump to conclusions that your suffering is to punish you. Suffering is always about change and offers an opportunity for a new understanding of the self.

How often have you procrastinated about making a change in your life that you knew was necessary, only to find that the universe got the ball rolling for you by offering a crisis for you to respond to, resulting in forcing that change? Have you faced a terrible loss or tragedy from which you felt you would never recover? Has that situation created stronger bonds to family, friends or loved ones? Has that situation alerted you to insecurities within yourself that left you no choice but to face them, or uncovered deep-rooted emotions and uncomfortable feelings like anger or resentment that lead to learning healthier coping skills? Has that situation given you a better understanding of the feelings of others where you might offer your support?

It is the human part of ourselves that longs for security and comfort and often fears change but that is the very thing that can be stagnating to the spirit. To search is a desire of the spirit because the spirit knows that change is constant. Change equals growth and gives us a better understanding of love and a heightened appreciation for its offspring, happiness.

As stagnating as suffering can appear to be in our physical lives, it means progress for our spiritual path. If we realize what our suffering is offering us, we will create balance and harmony between our spiritual self and our physical self. Alleviating fear and finding security and safety within our own hearts, enhances not only our physical lives but our spiritual existence as well.