The Universality of Human Suffering
There is no exception that a human suffers continuously. This is a fact that binds us all. As life continues, the suffering goes like a shadow, sometimes becoming our peer. In some form or another, you will realise its existence in your life. Acknowledging it is the first step toward preparing yourself to confront that suffering with a crucial question: where does it originate? What can help alleviate it?
Understanding Misery and Self-Distancing
If you face some misery in your life or your relationship, you might distance yourself from it and disassociate from that relationship with yourself or another person. It is the general approach anyone can take to eliminate the misery. But you need to understand the source of that misery. If you take that approach, going away from it without understanding it leads you to boost it more. Why? The more you are against the nature of your suffering, the more you assume its path is in the opposite direction, which is totally out of the question as you never understand yourself. You say I am suffering because of the other person in the relationship, and their actions put my life into misery. Not only did you take the wrong and opposite direction in understanding yourself, but you also left to check yourself and bolster your false self.
The Role of the Ego in Suffering
When you look at your suffering and try to remove it, you start with the sufferer. And who is the sufferer? The sufferer is your ego self, the part of you driven by desires, fears, and attachments. You nurture it more whenever you do anything as an ego self. Since your ego self is inherently unfulfilled, its lack of fulfilment grows with every action it takes based on its current perception. So the essential point here is to understand that, with the medium of your actions, not only do you manifest as a doer, but you expand it, too.
The Influence of Karma on Suffering
The law of karma says what you have become reflected in your actions. Whoever you are right now decides the value of your actions. If you remain aware of yourself and understand yourself, your actions become the elixir of your acts; you could go into the path of losing all your suffering as you know the one who is taking the action, then there is no question of which approach you take, what decision you make, what action your perform, you will get the results of happiness because you have understood the doer of your action, that is your true self. Your true self is the part of you that acts from inner accord and self-understanding, not from a place of fear and desire. If you are not well and unaware of yourself, your suffering creates itself like bacteria, expanding as a contagious disease. But if you understand yourself, your actions are like your own joyful tune, a lyrical and peaceful expression of your true character.
Avoiding External Solutions to Inner Problems
Your mind plays a trick game, which your ego self starts: Yes, there is suffering. I will find the solution in the outside world and fix it with worldly formulas, such as material possessions, social status, relationships, and fame, without realising the state of suffering in yourself and without understanding it. You trip outside, never define, and never provide an answer to your problem inside. Your misery, your anxieties, and your emotional breakdown are all inside.
Inner Peace Begins Within, and Self-Awareness is the Key
You can find whatever or many solutions that cannot resolve emotional and physical miseries that scratch your inner peace like a termite. You must discover the acid or spray to kill that termite and its source by looking at yourself and becoming self-aware. Then you realise the approach you were taking outside is useless; only the journey inside is the best solution for releasing your misery and removing it. Gaining that self-insight will uncover a more fulfilling life. This opportunity to reflect, heal, and grow allows you to let go of your miseries and rediscover your inner strength. Your path to joy begins within.