Life can be hard.

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We may experience pain and suffering.

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That can cause us to not want to be here.

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To run away from the agony.

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We may want to hide from our life or our past.

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And just find a way to stop the pain.

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It can be too much for us at times.

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Often, we just don't have good ways to cope with the pain.

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SO IT TAKES US AWAY FROM THE PRESENT MOMENT BECAUSE WE JUST DON'T WANT TO FEEL IT ANYMORE.

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All we want is to have some relief and feel better.

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We use all kinds of things to take us away from the pain.

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Drugs, sex, food, alcohol, even our phones.

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All these distractions take us out of the present moment.

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They take us away, however briefly, from what we are feeling.

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WHILE THIS COPING MECHANISM IS NECESSARY, IT ALSO HURTS US.

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For we get so used to not being in the present moment, that we learn to almost never be here now.

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The shame of it is that we only have the present moment.

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This moment, right here, right now, is all we have.

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ALL OF LIFE IS TRULY LIVED IN THE PRESENT FOR THE PAST IS GONE AND THE FUTURE HASN'T HAPPENED.

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Yet we either get stuck avoiding our feelings for what happened in the past, or we escape into a future that never comes.

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As conscious beings with choice we can make a different decision.

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We can learn to deal with the pain and the sorrow from our past and let it go.

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FREEDOM COMES WHEN WE GO THROUGH THAT PAIN INTO THE WHOLENESS THAT AWAITS ON THE OTHER SIDE FOR US.

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It is not easy, that is certain.

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This path through the pain is for the truly heroic at heart.

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For some us never get there.

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AND WE MISS OUT ON SO MUCH WHEN ALL WE DO IS FIND ANOTHER WAY TO TAKE US OUT OF THE PAIN AND OUT OF PRESENCE.

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There is no easy answer.

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The solution is challenging.

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But the reward is the greatest prize of all.

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Having our life back.

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Being able to live in the present moment once again.

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This present moment, and only this present moment, is all we ever have.

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EVEN BEING PRESENT TO THE PAIN AND ANGUISH IS BETTER THAN BEING CHECKED OUT ALTOGETHER.

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For the sensation of pain is not the hardest part.

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It is all the stories we create around the pain.

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How we tell ourselves that it will go on forever.

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Or how it means there is something wrong with us.

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IF WE CAN STOP JUDGING THE PAIN AS SOMETHING BAD, EVEN FOR A MOMENT, IT MAKES BEING PRESENT TO IT SO MUCH EASIER.

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And then perhaps we can take a moment to see what the pain is trying to teach us.

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If we can come to that place, then we can learn to live in all our present moments.

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Is there something in your life that you are not being present to?

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Can you find a way t be present to it even though it can be painful?

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~ Sam Liebowitz, The Conscious Consultant

Host of The Conscious Consultant Hour