Discomfort

Each day is as precious. Whether its sunny, gloomy, rainy, or stormy. We are beings of pleasure, seeking comfort and distraction and avoiding pain and discomfort. Tools that make us forget equally the qualities and sufferings of being alive. We could keep the wheel turning if there is energy to spare. But that is not true; one day, the arms and the minds will have no more strength to keep the momentum and it is then that we look back at the expenditures of energy we gave, only to find ourselves standing in the same place with an immovable wheel that will never spin the same again. There is a lot of talk, about which way is the better way to live. But no definitive answer can be given by anyone as that question needs to be answered individually with a collection of memories and experiences that we aggregate every day.  

There is a dichotomy between working to enjoy tomorrow or enjoying today despite of what tomorrow might bring. But there are only two states of mind, one in the present and one everywhere else but the present. How much present, how much time is it necessary to spend to secure a maximum amount of satisfaction and pleasure which is the goal. We are playing a game in which the quests are never ending, and in which every action we make, steals a little bit of time from our existence. The changing sentiment champions the present. Its heralds an era where love and work co-exist and where enduring hardship will no longer be necessary to be able to live well. Materialistically speaking that may be true; But what of wellness of the soul?  The root of each person’s existence. The one that keeps strong trees steady even in the harshest winds. Unfortunately for everyone, existence is a whole which cannot be filtered if the goal is to experience its wonderful gifts. Pain and pleasure only exist because of each other. And it is through the experience of both that the troubles of existence can be understood. It is as if suffering works as a window keeping life separated into two worlds that form a beautiful oneness once its shattered but only for a little moment until we notice there are more layers to the glass and we are only looking at an incomplete reflection.  

We crave for completeness, but we fear stepping on shattered glass. Life inside a cage will never be free even if the sky and landscape are fully in view, and a person will never understand the whole spectrum of life if the only lens they use to look through filters some of the light.  We must observe the whole picture for what it is and always look to include some darkness however painful it might be. Ideally one must seek the point where pain is tolerable but beyond what was intended to be felt, a point of indefinite but sustainable discomfort.  As paintings became more realistic with the correct use of shadows, a soul too will become magnificent with the correct amount of suffering. Every moment, as the state of our senses is evaluated internally, we must look to be comfortably discomfortable. The best part is getting to choose how that discomfort will be transformed into something meaningful. Enduring the slopes of the mountain make its omnidirectional view a delight to behold and so too all struggles become a distant memory when all the suffering behind them is used to make art out of our lives.  

And when all energy is spent it will be the strength learnt through hardship that will make us push for longer than we thought we could. It is at that moment that all the aggregate comfort that was stolen from unfulfilled pleasurable moments, will be added back to our state of existing and we will be able to feel only love and compassion for ourselves.