Pain is inevitable, but suffering is a choice

A senior monk & a junior monk were traveling. 

They reached a river with a strong current. They were preparing to cross, & they saw an attractive woman also attempting to cross.

She asked if they could help her cross to the other side.

They both glanced at one another because they had taken vows not to touch a woman.

Then, without a word, the older monk picked up the woman, carried her across the river, placed her gently on the other side, & started walking.

The younger monk was shocked to see. After rejoining his companion, he was speechless, & an hour passed without a word between them.

Two more hours, then three, finally the younger monk asked “As monks, we are not permitted a woman, how could you then carry that woman on your shoulders?”

The older monk replied calmly, “Dear, I set her down on the other side of the river hours ago, WHY ARE YOU STILL CARRYING HER?”

______

In life, sometimes we keep carrying the past hurts, worries, sadness, guilt, resentments so tight, that we forget to live the present, unaware that the person we are hurting is our own self.

Pain is inevitable, but suffering is a choice.

We can choose to let go of what doesn’t serve us anymore, & live in the NOW, because now is all that exists.