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.