necessary.
The shamans offer a practice that allows us to fully experience problems, loss, fear, anger, sadness or pain as efficiently as possible. If we approach the unpreferred qualities in life in a way that makes them easier to fully experience, we can move through them as fast as possible. And spend more of our time with the goodies in life.
Shortcut to Happiness
“The way to happiness is through the world, not around it,” one of my teachers is fond of saying. I know of no one who has been able to avoid the unpleasant events and feelings of life. So if we can’t have a universe without so-called “nasty” situations and emotions, we can at least learn how to deal with those conditions in the most effective and pleasurable way!
The Shaman Secret
The shaman way is to “welcome the discomfort” in life. Invite the uncomfortable, undesirable, unpreferred qualities of life. Tellingly, the dictionary definition of “undesirable” is “unattractive, disagreeable, unwelcome, uninvited.” So, the solution is to make these qualities as attractive and agreeable as possible—so that we can actually welcome, invite and, therefore, fully experience each quality.
When a person chooses to fully experience a quality, event or feeling, the quality goes full circle, full cycle—and dissolves, disappears. When you give the energy of a situation or feeling the space—the acceptance—to fully express itself, the uncomfortable feeling is complete, done, fulfilled. You’re free of it. It’s over, gone, kaput. You can move on to focus on the more fun aspects of life!
How Do I Welcome Pain?
Good question!