7 Quotes by Nancy Bardacke

While there’s nothing I can do about the pain signals being sent from the nerves in my toe to my brain, with mindfulness practice there is a lot I can do about how I perceive it-how I handle the thoughts and emotions that spring up in relation to that pain.

We have a choice, a choice not about whether to experience pain, but about our relationship to that pain or how we interpret it. This is the difference between pain and suffering.

We have a choice, a choice not about whether to experience pain, but about our relationship to that pain or how we interpret it. This is the difference between pain and suffering. It is sometimes said about life that pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional.

While there’s nothing I can do about the pain signals being sent from the nerves in my toe to my brain, with mindfulness practice there is a lot I can do about how I perceive it-how I handle the thoughts and emotions that spring up in relation to that pain…. In bringing mindful awareness to the pain, I have in that very moment stepped out of reacting, and instead found a way of responding to the unpleasant sensations of my toe.

As best you can, you say yes to the sensations, yes to this change. You remind yourself that this is normal, transformational pain. All is well.

To diminish the suffering of pain, we need to make a crucial distinction between the pain of pain and the pain we create by our thoughts about the pain. Fear, anger, guilt, loneliness, and helplessness are all mental and emotional responses that can intensify pain. – the Dalai Lama.

This is what Michel de Montaigne was alluding to when he said, “My life has been full of terrible misfortunes most of which never happened.