Life is Pain

This is something that's been rattling around in my head recently due to the three "parts" of the class: Creation, Intitiation, and [endings].  If you apply this philosophy to life, then we have beginnings, middles, and ends; in other words, birth, life, and death. Dr. Sexon wanted our Initiation -- middle -- stories to be "painful."

This has made me ponder on a line from a truly fantastic movie, The Princess Bride: "Life is pain. Anyone who says differently is selling something."

Yes, life can be painful. As humans, we suffer heartbreak, physical injuries, desperation, and all manner of less-than-pleasant things. But it's also true that life can be full of wonderful moments like cuddling with kittens or watching a beautiful sunset.

Without the pain, though, the non-painful moments would not seem as incredible.

Without the incredible moments, pain would still be terrible.

I think that in general, life is a blend of the two. However, as humans, we can have a tendency to focus on the negative and we don't believe we can be happy unless all the bad things from our life are eradicated. Advertisers thrive on this policy as they try to sell you something you never knew you needed, but now you know you MUST have it for your life to be more happy and convenient.

My conclusion: Life is continuously painful. It is also continuously beautiful. You need a balance of the two for life to mean anything. We are defined by the struggles we overcome, but we should always take a chance to reward ourselves for a job well done.