Facing Sufering. Roberto Badenas

Facing Sufering - Roberto Badenas


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can achieve everything that we set out to do. It’s okay to aim for great things, and we should try. But we all have limits set by nature or our circumstances. In every life, there are situations and moments of darkness, disease, frustration, failure, grief.

      We can often overcome them on our own, but sometimes it is impossible to face them alone. Fragility is part of the human condition. We need help in difficult moments. Aside from getting appropriate care, which is most important and most urgent, there are three basic steps that will help us cope with suffering: heeding the warning signs, practicing spiritual serenity, and learning to live with inevitable pain.

      Heeding the warning signs

      Our first reaction to pain should be to listen to its messages. Instead of limiting ourselves to taking an aspirin and going on, it would be better for us to stop and see what’s wrong and ask ourselves, “When do I have these problem? Before or after I eat? During the day or at night? Is this related to my work or to my relationships? Does it have a connection to my fear of the future or with a past event? Etc. Instead of silencing pain at all costs, it would be better to start by listening to its warning voice. Perhaps we should thank it for the warning and act accordingly.

      Practicing Spiritual Serenity

      Serenity emerges when we accept our reality and we have the courage to face it until the end. It’s not about mastering the art of autosuggestion. It’s about learning to implement mechanisms that lighten our burdens. It’s about learning from the past to know how to live in the present and face the future, whether it is to accept fate or to fight to change it.

      1 . William James, The Principles of Psychology, Harvard University Press, 1983 (1890),

      2 . Sentence that William Shakespeare puts in the mouth of Prospero en The Tempest. Along the same lines, Ellen G. White says: “Life is what we make it, and we shall find what we look for. If we look for sadness and trouble, if we are in a frame of mind to magnify little difficulties, we shall find plenty of them […]. But if we look on the bright side of things, we shall find enough to make us cheerful and happy. If we give smiles, they will be returned to us; if we speak pleasant, cheerful words, they will be spoken to us again.” (The Adventist Home, p. 430).

      3 . Santiago Ramón y Cajal was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1906.

      4 . According to Dr. Mario Alonso Puig, it has been shown in several studies that one minute of entertaining negative thinking puts the immune system delicate situation for six hours. The prefrontal region of the brain, where more advanced thinking occurs, where our future is determined, where we weigh strategies and alternatives to solve problems and make decisions, is tremendously influenced by the limbic system, which is our emotional brain. So, what the heart wants to feel, the mind will end up showing (See Mario Alonso Puig, Reinventing yourself: Overcome Your Anxiety and Fera When Faced with Lifes’s Problems and Challenges, London: Marshall Cavendish Editions, 2011).

      5 . Dr. Paul Brand and Philip Yancey, Pain: The Gift Nobody Wants, New York: Harper Collins, 1993, p. 61.

      6 . Johann Wolfgang von Goethe rightly stated that “thinking is easy, acting is difficult, and to put one’s thought into action is the most difficult thing in the world.”

      7 . This is called the “Anzio Effect”. When It Hurts: Prayer, Preparation and Hope for Life’s Pain, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006, p. 33.

      8 . Daniel Gottlieb, Letters to Sam: A Grandfather’s Lessons of Love, Loss and the Gifts of Life, Sterling, 2008, p. 134.

      9 . “Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself ” (Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist, Harper Collins, 1993, p. 130).

      10 . See Nelson Hochberg, “An Explanation of the Quotation: Pain is inevitable, Suffering is Optional.” (http://www.nosuffering.com). “Even in the midst of the trials of life, we can choose joy.” (Tim Hansel, You Gotta Keep Dancing, Elgin [Illinois, USA]: David C. Cook, 1998, p. 83.

      11 . The Bible contains many words of encouragement so that we can face fear, such as: “Be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged! For the Lord your God will be with your wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9; cf. Psalm 27:1; Matthew 6:45-52, etc.).

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