Are pain and suffering detrimental to us? Should we strive to avoid it or escape it every time?

Finding a positive response to negative feelings may not be an easy task, specially when the default reaction to pain is one of rejection and resistance. As someone said once to me, “I can only sit with my pain at a bar, drinking bourbon.”.

We tend to suffer about our past or future more than we do about the present. Regrets and guilt about our past accumulate, become overwhelming, and depression follows. And when worries and fear about the future take over, anxiety sets in.

It’s not easy to say you need something, even when that something has to do with your own happiness and well-being. And it’s also a sign of strength and courage to want to go beyond your own personal limitations through reaching out for support and growth.

The Big Mind process was developed by American Zen Master Dennis Genpo Merzel Roshi. Genpo Roshi taught traditional zen for 30 years and studied Gestalt and Jungian psychology before he found a way, in the late nineties, to bring realization and awakening beyond the zen community.

Gratitude for our abilities, privileges, good gestures by others, or just for everyday's little moments of joy can be a quick and effective way to lift our mood. Furthermore, if practiced regularly, gratitude may also impact our long-term perception of our own happiness.