Happiness, Love and Altruism
(Workbook Page 72)
It might be easy to distill all this down to a “feel good” experience but it is so much more. If you have reached this part of the program, you have done a tremendous body of work. You are moving from someone whose life has been wracked by persistent pain to someone who is forged in and strengthened by their pain. You have found ways out. You are free to experience pleasure and love. Hopefully, you are in a better place; a place that allows you to pat yourself on the back for a job well done. Realize it doesn’t stop here. You can now start to look outside yourself and see the world around you in a different way.
There is a big difference between controlling pain and living well. Pain relief is a reasonable goal on the path to well-being but it is not the ultimate goal. Like the phases of treatment, there are phases of life. We really are on this raft together. If a person is to heal, they have to forgive themselves, nurture themselves and love themselves. They have to give up on giving up and reach out for the help that is available. Then they have to turn around and extend that helping hand to others.
Being able to use your pain to help someone else, is the true transformational experience. Using what you have learned to alleviate the suffering of others is the gift of your own suffering. It gives meaning and it inspires. It embodies the generosity of the human spirit. It is how we are wired.
