Suffering: The Currency for Massive Change in Your Life
Everything you want is on the other side of fear. — Jack Canfield
Humans are funny. You want something and immediately feel afraid or ashamed to go after it.
Why is that?
Because it requires you to be or do something that you’ve never done before. And that terrifies you.
You’ve built your life around a certain level of comfort and don’t want to leave. Inherently, there’s nothing wrong with this. Until you want something.
And I don’t mean you want a snack. Nay. I mean, you want another job or a larger home or a family. These are the kind of things that force you to change mentally, physically and maybe even spiritually.
Unfortunately, change comes at a cost.
Suffering is the currency that pays for the change needed to go from where you are to where you want to be.
So if you want something that forces you to learn a new skill-set or uncover a dormant trait within yourself, be prepared to pay in suffering.
For instance, let’s say you’ve been wanting a change in careers for over a year now. You’ve been going to your dead end job hoping that the change would magically occur or someone would hold your hand through the process. Until eventually, you become so sick of your work you quit on the spot and chase that new career.
It’s at that point, when you become utterly sick of your work, that you’ve paid for the change needed to go after that new career.
Is there a way to bypass suffering to enact the change you need?
Yes.
Suffering isn’t ALWAYS needed. You can simply make the choice and do it, no questions asked.
Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless; like water — Bruce Lee
What Bruce means here is to let all the distractions, feelings, and emotions pass by while you maintain what you want at the forefront of your mind. Don’t be distracted by the fear that encircles what you really want and you’ll bypass suffering.
It’s like clipping a coupon you already have to purchase the change necessary to getting what you want.
The article here on Brain Pickings goes into even more depth on Bruce’s philosophy on being formless like water.
