57. Suffering is Subjective

Episode 57 Suffering is Subjective. It’s National Infertility Awareness Week in the US and thousands are sharing their personal experiences of infertility, fertility treatments and pregnancy loss. It is easy to fall into the trap of comparing your own journey to others and even feeling jealous that “She only struggled for X months” or feeling guilty that others have been through so much more than you. Suffering and pain however are subjective and cannot be measured by the amount of months someone has been trying to conceive or the number of failed treatment cycles they have had. Even if someone has suffered multiple miscarriages the actual level of suffering they experienced we can never fully comprehend. This is due to the fact that outside experiences cannot make us feel a particular way, even an event as emotive as pregnancy loss. We only ever experience life through the lens of our own thinking. It is not what is happening to us but how we perceive what is happening to us. So two women who on paper appear to have identical stories will each be experiencing their own reality through the lens of their beliefs, past experiences, mental state in that moment and their predictions of the future. Listen for more.