Can any good come of suffering?

My therapist asked me ‘can any good come from suffering?’

I couldn’t answer her; until now.

Because I have had a revelation about happiness.

And it is this:

Happiness is not the absence of unhappiness.

Break happiness down into safety, enjoyment, satisfaction, love and purpose.

You realise they all involve delaying gratification, effort, pain, suffering and striving.

Just as to feel hot you have to feel cold or hunger in order to feel full we can reframe unhappiness, sadness, disatisfaction, loss and obstacles as a prerequisite for their inverse.

Regrets can lead to better decisions.

Misery can lead to creativity.

The pain of those we love only deepens our feelings for them.

So my answer, for now at least, to the question ‘can any good come from suffering?’ would be:

Any good requires suffering of some sort.

It’s what we do next that matters.

The skill, as Oprah says, is to ‘feel the feel then take the wheel’.

#theatre #coaching #leadership