Pain will always be with us. 

When there is pain, suffering follows. 

(Part 1) 

Some years ago, when walking blithely (but alas, not mindfully) out the front door, I didn’t notice the ice. For a moment I was airborne. Right away gravity took over. One moment I was standing upright on a porch, and a few seconds later I was sitting on the ground several yards away.

Apparently, there was a middle part in my acrobatics because my knee really, really hurt.

It caused pain for many days, but by using various cultivation methods, my suffering eased some. I chanted, which made me happy. It also helped me to relax, which in turn lessened the physiological reaction to pain. Another method was getting involved in my work, which distracted me from thinking of the pain. Then there was understanding as I smiled and acknowledged “I’m repaying some of my past karmas.”

In that instance, I managed to actualize the reality that even though we undergo pain, we can choose not to continue suffering.