Suffering or stress or psychological discomfort is no longer something bad or evil to be transcended or destroyed; it is a unique opportunity to see what you are still at war with, what you are still seeking.

Here’s something that’s crucial to understand: In reality, feelings have no opposite. Energy in the body has no opposite. Life itself has no opposite.

Our fear is not really the fear of failure or ugliness or pain, but what these things symbolize in our world. And for many people, failure is linked to disapproval, rejection, abandonment, and, ultimately, lack of love.

My rejection of pain was disguised as acceptance! What an ingenious place for the seeker to hide—right at the heart of a beautiful spiritual practice! Accepting done with any kind of hope, motive, or expectation is not real acceptance—it is rejection in disguise.

Seen in this way, suffering is always, always a signpost pointing back to wholeness.

The concept “There is no pain” can simply be a way for seekers to avoid feeling the pain they feel in the moment! The concept “This is not my body” can be used to avoid facing uncomfortable thoughts and feelings they have about their body. The concept “There is no self” or “Everything is impersonal” can be used to deny intimate, and very personal,

Perhaps this was not my life to hold up in the first place. Perhaps I wasn’t really who I thought I was. Perhaps true freedom had nothing to do with being a better wave in the ocean, with perfecting my story of myself. Perhaps freedom was all about waking up from the dream that we are separate waves in the first place and embracing all that appears

Your suffering is not a curse, a punishment, an aberration, or a sign of your failure in any way. Suffering is always a great place to start exploring present experience. God knows, if I hadn’t suffered the way I did, I would never have begun questioning everything I knew and discovering freedom in everything I was at war with, in everything I

I teach one thing and one thing only: a deep and fearless acceptance of whatever comes your way.