“Pain can change you, but that doesn’t mean it has to be a bad change. Take that pain and turn it into wisdom.”
~Dalai Lama
As Jon Kabat-Zinn says, changing the idea of Self as victim or passive recipient is very powerful. Health and healing then becomes much more participatory . When you are working from this perspective, you are more able to see the possibility that you can recruit all of your interior resources that you have, simply by the virtue of being human, for learning, growing and transformation. As you sit with yourself in this way, it’s about healing and not curing. It’s about coming to terms with things as they are. It’s about acceptance – not as passive resignation but as a place to begin, to stand, and then to adventure into the field of the possible by owning the present moment.
As you work your way through these pages, you may notice that you are enjoying life more. You may notice that you have more energy because you are making gentle changes to your eating habits, your sleep habits, your exercise habits, and your mind habits. Just paying attention opens you to moving toward healthier habits without resistance. You may one day wake up and realize that this pain has served to remind you to take care of yourself, appreciate the small beauties of life, connect with the world around you.
