"Life is suffering"

Nowadays everybody knows the Buddha and his Noble Truth:

“Life is Suffering”

Pretty pessimistic right? If that’s the case, why even bother with life? At first glance, this statement is an invitation to nihilism, depression, and meaninglessness.

If it’s all f**d anyways, why even bother thriving toward a great life? Unfortunately, a conclusion too many come during their lifetime… And this needs to change.

For that we need to understand what the Buddha meant when he said that?.

The Buddha realized that people live in constant fear. They live in a constant fear of:

• losing what they have

• not getting what they want

• receiving what they don’t want

If you take a step back and think about it - all your suffering is connected to these 3 phenomena.

And today I want to present you the way out of “chronic suffering”… But first, let’s explore a bit of history:

The origin story of Adam and Eve says they are flawed, punished, and must work toward redeeming themselves for wrongfully eating the apple in paradise. This origin story reflects how people see themselves: inadequate, flawed, and sinful.

But that’s not true… The truth is, behind your imperfections lays love and innocence. Every being on earth is created by God (Nature, Consciousness, whatever you wanna call it…)

So by definition we are part of God. Ram Dass (the famous spiritual teacher) takes it even further. He says: “Everybody you meet is God in Drag”. Family, friends, enemies, politicians, prisoners - God is in all beings. So from that perspective, we see - in our nature, we are love, just as we are right now.

So that also means, life is not about redeeming yourself, it’s about finding that pure love inside you.

A tiger freed from his lifelong zoo cage will still be trapped in his old patterns. Similarly, humans live in a cage of self-judgment, criticism, and hatred.

The key to freeing yourself is to accept everything about you and life. That doesn’t mean to be stagnant, a victim, or nihilistic. It means to have faith in life that it knows what it’s doing.

So the ultimate solution to suffering?

Radical Openness:

Embrace every thought, feeling, and sensation with an open heart. You’ll be free the moment you accept what is, instead of wishing it to be something else. As the famous Psychologist Carl Rogers once said: “The curious paradox is that when I am to accept myself just as I am, then I’m able to change.”

Radical Openness means to stop self-criticising and embrace yourself and the world with compassion and acceptance. It’s the art of staying wide open and being vulnerable while sitting with the mystery and the unbearable pain — to be with it all.

In the words of Ram Dass: "Live in the fullness of the moment with joy and suffering, witnessing it in all its perfection.”

“Life is suffering” is only true if you resist the experiences life wants you to have. The more trust you develop in life the less you will suffer.

Life unfolds in its own rhythm, perfectly balanced. Our rational mind can’t comprehend this perfection and starts to resist. When you practice openness, don’t work with your mind - instead feel and observe the sensations you're having.

Relax behind your thoughts and emotions and remember this mantra: I’m okay. You’re okay. Everything is okay. The more you embrace this ultimate truth the more free you'll be.

that’s it for me from me for now…

And please if you have any questions or comments, please reach out. I read every message personally.

And one last thing:

I’ve recently completed my Acceptance-Commitment Therapy (ACT) license and now I’m giving workshops offline to different psychological associations and Yoga & Meditation centers. So in the next weeks and months, you will learn a lot about the topics I discuss in these workshops.

I will also start giving paid online counseling sessions for those who resonate with the teachings of ACT. But for now, I will give 30-minute ACT-Counselling session completely for free (limited spots available). So if that’s something that interests you, reply to this e-mail with “ACT” and I get back to you.

With love,

Heythem