The Many Faces of Suffering

Have you ever thought or became aware of the facial signs that display suffering? Have you ever seen a wrinkled forehead arched at the eye brows of deep concern or emotional frustration or pain? Have you ever acknowledged the red, puffy, swollen and speckled coloring on the face of another who has been flooded in their tears of suffering? What about the pronunciation of general aging lines on a person's face on their forehead, around their eyes, on their cheeks or around their mouth where there smile usually is worn but is gone due to individual suffering? What about the lowering of the corners of the mouth where a frown resides? How many really notice the facial features and expressions of another to determine their emotional feelings in the moment? How many spend time in the mirror looking at their own suffering expressions - as they occur - to learn how to know and become aware of what suffering even looks like in self?

The many faces of suffering appear visually upon the facial expressions of an individual - but how many of us even take time to acknowledge, realize and become aware that these signs of emotional distress exist. For each face is as unique to each person as the genetics that make up their DNA and their facial expressions that will each tell a different emotional story of suffering as well.

A Person I Use to Know spent years carrying emotional and very unhealthy and damaging internal silent baggage of self within. This baggage was an anchor upon almost every thought, emotion, and as an interaction guide with others - but still denying self to open up that emotional suffering baggage and look into it.

Never did this person pick up a mirror when emotionally suffering to witness and see the physical effects that she was doing to herself. For she felt the torment within and never wanted to know nor care that it maybe important to look deeper into her self to find the weightless of peace that she was searching for unconsciously and ignorantly deprived to know.

She figured if she had done enough for others and not provoke or invoke the same pain upon others - that had been done to her self - that it would be enough to help heal her self as well as help others along their journey of life and over come their suffering too. What a naive and ill-equipped lady she was. For this person was me.

I figured if I could be kind, lend my intellect where needed and contribute to all I met and anyone that I worked with - that I could assist them and discard my own internal baggage as I went along too. Wrong. Why?

Because all that old baggage carried within - is where I pulled my knowledge from - my intuition from - my lending hand from - my experiences from - and every source of who I was in trying to help others and for myself all came from the old baggage within.

Granted, through very hard lessons and mistakes; I learned alot of not repeating the same errors but it still was not enough to commit to anything of routine, emotional stability of healthiness or obtain my own internal peace when in the silence of my own emotions, thoughts and afterward from interactions with others.

For as a victim and being a survivor, I had learned through nature and nurture and maturing experiences that many skillful, helpful and even beneficial constructive traits to survive, live and enjoy life and with an insightfulness that I felt proud of.

But at the same time, this old baggage of information and unhealthiness with my Post Traumatic Stress Disorder was a constant circle of triggers, trigger awareness, nightmares, flashbacks, nervousness, assumptions, speculations and panic attacks.

The emotional outbreaks and breakdowns I would have were as unhealthy to me as it was painful upon others who did not understand my cries for help and wanting a peaceful resolve - just as anyone else would want from their pains and sources of suffering too.

Emotionally suffering is the hardest aspect of individuality that any human being will endure and personally seek to overcome. For the emotional suffering we feel, think and perceive is as much about our internal core of self as it is the experiences we endure in life.

It is our silent internal thoughts that tell our emotions what to feel or not to feel and that becomes the reactions and actions that we inflict externally. Emotions can be healthy and even the lessons of learning the valuable information that suffering teaches us.

But individual awareness, perceptions and thoughts have to be carefully catered to each and understand the why of individual and internal suffering to undo the unhealthiness produced by it. More than anything it takes a personal belief that a person must admit that they have suffered long enough and deserve to be peacefully happy within to self too. That was the hardest for me.

For I was not a bad person. I had made many mistakes and was as imperfect as any one else. But I still deserved and wanted the peaceful stillness of my own thoughts and emotions. But I had to work, learn and apply this learning to achieve this.

I felt that if I had believed and admitted my internal deficiencies and unhealthiness that I done to myself - that I would lose myself - and it was like admitting defeat or failure to myself. For if I admitted what I lacked - then I would surely be an outcast more than I had already felt in my life because of who I am and how I lived and survived my life.

But when I got over my own fears to try and learn how to overcome - I gained. I have nothing but gained. In fact, after admitting and accepting what I needed within all along - I have gained more. I have gained internally within what I sought so long to stop or help others with -  who needed my abilities to stop their suffering even when I was suffering within myself. But after I began this process of learning about emotions, unhealthiness, healthiness and growing my own broadening definitions of thoughts - I have never felt more internally healthy and peaceful.

For this learning about emotions and direct application to my life has helped me. I share this unique and perhaps, first perceived bizarre skillfulness to potentially assist others who know the depths of suffering as I have to help others to learn how to help them self.

For suffering is as much about what we experience internally within by our own thoughts, emotions and interpretations of what occurred to us - as it is the harm someone else or circumstances done to us.

It's like have an open blister on the hand. If you keep picking, plucking or tearing at that blister, it can never heal. It will only continue to fester and get infected and run deeper into the body and even induce blood poisoning from the infection that grows that can not heal.

But once you learn to accept the blister exists. Why it existed and what you can do to help your self to stop picking at it to heal your blister from the inside out - the blister stops. The blister heals. The blister leaves nothing but a minor reminder of a once festering sore that is now gone.

Trauma, abuses, and anything produced by Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is pretty much the same theory of concept that I have applied in my own healing and suggest to anyone else who is suffering.

This is for those who are tired of the unhealthiness of old baggage that you do not know how to put down - but yet - you can not escape from it either. For those who believe that you deserve to be mended too. For those who believe that you too have erred in your ways as any other imperfect human being has too. For those who believe that you deserve the same healthy peacefulness within. Realize that you too do not have to suffer anymore and you can learn new effective and healthier skills to achieve this too.

PTSD is socially known as a normal reaction to abnormal event or circumstance that produced trauma in a person. I believe PTSD is an unhealthy reaction to ensure survival human beings to get us through the unhealthy event or circumstance we endure.

It is not blaming human beings for having this automatic response of hyper and overloaded Fight or Flight Response that throws the brain, body, Central Nervous System and Autonomic Systems for an unhealthy ride but it admitting and accepting a new perception that shows the flaw in this survival mechanism in this human beings and gives reliefs to those who truly want to stop it - overcome it in healthy manner and to finally progress and move on from it.

These survival mechanisms built in each of us is to ensure our survival through the unhealthiness we experienced. What if learning new skills or knowledge could be the essential tools that we need to learn and know to undo the unhealthiness of self to be the key to undo the PTSD - to undo our own suffering of excessive emotional baggage that served us once purposefully to ensure we survived but now it comes time to let it go by learning new skills how.

Learning how to become aware of self internally as we do externally. Learn how to replenish the baggage of internal old information and supply it with new healthier input that effectively works.

If a doctor tells a person - they need this medication or that medication to save their life - most never question the side effects, treatment, effectiveness or durations of medications. They trust their professional and take accordingly.

But what if there is more out there that we could do for our self, as patients, to achieve and gain our own healthiness? What if new knowledge or latest research hasn't been given to the professionals we seek and there is more that we could do for our self to end our suffering and our own pain through our own willingness to contribute to healthiness too? Would you motivate your self to try to obtain it? Would you seek new tools to help your self overcome the most personal and secretive of suffering that you endure to make it not only stop but to help self obtain internal peacefulness - would you take it?

Suffering occurs every single day to millions of individuals. If there is ever one emotion that can cripple and disable us all - is would be suffering. But how much of our own suffering do we contribute to self? How much suffering do we allow others to do to us because we simply do not know better or we value our self so low internally that we can not accept - that we too - do not need too nor have to suffer any longer?

Suffering is a definition that is different to each of us. Why we suffer? How we suffered? What occurred in our life that changed us because of the suffering we experienced?
Individual and personal is what suffering is about but what we do with our suffering will define and detail who we are internally. Until we learn who that person of suffering is within and the cause and effects of our lives that produce our healthiness or unhealthiness in life - we can not save others - when the pain of our self becomes replicated to others because we simply did not know or was now aware that we too - do not need to suffer anymore.

By these definitions of suffering below by the www.freedictionary.com - I believe you will see our social equality of suffering - in self or in others you know.

For suffering hurts. Suffering scars. Suffering wounds. But in keeping old suffering alive - you are only allowing your suffering to continue.

Learn how to quit picking old wounds and stop pulling from baggage that you do not need to carry anymore with you by learning how to stop this suffering you endure.
Suffering makes us all weak. Suffering makes us emotionally human. But if we can not learn how to stop our own suffering then the cause and effects of our lives will be reflected upon the faces of others that we never intentionally sought to make suffer but we do; just because we do not know any better or never realized just what our suffering is doing to us and what we have done to others.

Be aware of suffering in the faces around you. Do not fear suffering in self nor suffering in others. If you can not assist the suffering of another, then let them be and go their own way. For to produce two sufferings will never equal moral or lawfulness. Isn't that what every one seeks to achieve in life is to be moral and lawful and achieve a healthier life - along with others personal accomplishments and achievements? But how do you remove a splinter from another when you can not or refuse to accept the splinter of self too. Good intentions have helped many people but it has also contributed to the suffering of others as well - including self. It is time to learn how to stop self suffering and live the life you deserve and want to live. Old baggage of suffering does serve a purpose of survival but in learning how to live past baggage is the key to obtaining everything in life you wanted or sought for.

The condition of one who suffers; the bearing of pain or distress.
An instance of pain or distress.

the pain, misery, or loss experienced by a person who suffers
the state or an instance of enduring pain, etc.

a symptom of some physical hurt or disorder; "the patient developed severe pain and distension"

severe spasm of pain; "the throes of dying"; "the throes of childbirth"

the suffering of Jesus at the Crucifixion

emotional distress; a fundamental feeling that people try to avoid; "the pain of loneliness"

a figurative injury (to your feelings or pride); "he feared that mentioning it might reopen the wound"; "deep in her breast lives the silent wound"; "The right reader of a good poem can tell the moment it strikes him that he has taken an immortal wound--that he will never get over it"--Robert Frost

intense feelings of suffering; acute mental or physical pain; "an agony of doubt"; "the torments of the damned"

troubled by pain or loss; "suffering refugees"
troubled - characterized by or indicative of distress or affliction or danger or need; "troubled areas"; "fell into a troubled sleep"; "a troubled expression"; "troubled teenagers"

very unhappy; full of misery; "he felt depressed and miserable"; "a message of hope for suffering humanity"; "wretched prisoners huddled in stinking cages"

experiencing or marked by or causing sadness or sorrow or discontent; "unhappy over her departure"; "unhappy with her raise"; "after the argument they lapsed into an unhappy silence"; "had an unhappy time at school"; "the unhappy (or sad) news"; "he looks so sad"