I’ve talked before about how the Yoga Sutra describes our tendency to grasp at what we want and to avoid what we don’t. It describes this resisting life as the roots of suffering. This response comes from ego’s attempt to control our experiences.
This also relates to our nervous system stress response, fight and flight. (Sustained fight-or-flight responses cause us to fall into the deeper states of fawning and freezing.) But these are all ways we resist life as it is.
If we can make this process conscious, then suffering becomes a choice. Life can be painful sometimes, but that doesn’t mean we need to suffer for it. Even grief is an expression of bliss if it’s fully allowed. How we are with the world gives rise to suffering or joy. Yet this process can take time to recognize, then resolve the ways we’ve lived in resistance.
Many people live life fighting or fleeing much of their life. Often without realizing it as it’s their normal. Yet this is rejecting life. And it minimizes the support we can experience, deepening our suffering and leaving us feeling like victims.
Life is sooo much easier after we learn how to be with life in a healthier way and step out of our drama. As we stop resisting life, the noise winds down, the suffering eases, and nature’s support becomes the norm.
Davidya