Everyday Canvas

Finding the Lessons inside Our Hurts

Prompt: “If you focus on the hurt, you will continue to suffer. If you focus on the lesson, you will continue to grow.” From Buddhist Vision’s video
What are your thoughts on this and do you think every hurt can be a lesson?

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Every hurt might be a lesson, just maybe, but if the hurt is too great, it is usually very difficult to see or search for the lesson in it, but it is always a good idea to try to spot the strength one has gained from a negative event.

Years ago, in a Long Island bowling league, I met an old man who had been a POW in a Japanese camp during World War II. The atrocities of the Japanese toward the Americans, although they had agreed to the Geneva accords and then disregarded their promise, were so terrible that this veteran could never forgive them, and I heard quite a few choice words out of his mouth toward his captors, and rightfully so. Still, he found one lesson in all that horrific experience. He said since he survived through that, compared to it, everything else--no matter how hurtful--had become a piece of cake. I think this brave man’s problem was a giant one that overwhelmed him. Yet, even if the memory of that giant hung over him like a shadow, he could go on with his life and enjoy his everyday living to some degree since he could find some solace in the relative ease of the rest of his life.

Other people who are hurt by one thing or another can find strength by ignoring the hurt or forgiving the persons or the circumstances that inflicted the hurt. Forgiving can be the best answer as it sets the person free from the chains of bitterness.

Then, if forgiving is not emotionally possible, looking for the lesson in the unfortunate event and concentrating on the lesson can propel the person to move forward with his life.