I once read that doing things we don’t want to do, or that scare us, offers us our greatest growth. Pema Chodren (the great Buddhist monk) writes in her book, “We humans desire only pleasure in our lives and will avoid pain at all cost.” I was one of those pleasure seekers - petrified to get a shot from a doctor or go to the dentist, travel alone, or experience a painful breakup. In short, my fear of failure was daunting. I avoided pain and loneliness at all costs. I taught my children a favorite saying of mine: “What we resist persists, and what we chase will always run away.” Simply put, this means that what we run from will always track us down. You can’t hide from your destiny’s lessons. I truly believe that because of my desire to avoid any ugly, painful feelings, my higher powers (angels and guides) have tracked me down to teach me my greatest lesson of all: to not only welcome, but to embrace the pain.
Subsequently, common themes in my life have been pain and suffering. As much as I’ve tried to steer clear of what I dreaded the most, I have absolutely rolled around in the dregs of tough lessons for most of my life. Pema says that pain is where we will experience our greatest growth. After years of avoiding pain like the plague, I have abandoned the notions of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ and so in this I have found freedom, and now excel at ripping myself wide open in the name of growth and healing.
ON BECOMING SUPER WOMAN!
BY DENA MENDES