So, I’m a copywriter by trade, and over the last year or so I’ve developed a heightened sensitivity to bullshit.
And MAN is there a lot of it!
One of the messages that is consistently thrown in our faces is the idea that we ARE in pain, and that we MUST get out of it.
Have you ever been feeling perfectly fine until you read a Facebook ad or a sales page that convinces you that you AREN’T fine and then all of a sudden, you’re whipping out your credit card to buy a solution for a problem you didn’t have ten minutes ago?
First of all, I’m sorry, because there’s a chance I wrote that page.
Secondly, here’s the shift I’d rather be a part of.
1. You don’t have to be CURRENTLY in pain to commit to staying out of it.
A lot of stuff out there is geared towards people who are in deep, emotional pain. And marketers PLAY on that pain. And if you don’t buy, then clearly you aren’t the right kind of f*cked up so it’s still your fault.
I remember a mentor saying to me “What kind of pain is your audience in?” To which I replied, “Why do they have to be in pain? Can’t they just have an unwavering commitment to the path? Can’t they just appreciate the benefits of practice and ritual? Can’t they just be passionate about living at a Higher level, with Higher perspective? Why does there always have to be pain involved from the get-go?”
I schedule healing sessions, not because I need to be dragged out of the abyss, but because they feel so damn good!
I buy organic face masks, not because I have any kind of skin condition, but because they FEEL so damn good.
It’s not a rescue mission. It’s a PRACTICE. It’s self-devotion.
Pain does not have to be a pre-cursor to pleasure. Pleasure can be your default setting.
2. NOTHING YOU BUY WILL EVER PERMANENTLY ALLEVIATE PAIN
Sorry, but pain is part of the human experience. As are stress and heartache and uncertainty and change. Change is a privilege of being alive. Some change feels good, some doesn’t.
But please don’t depend on any one program or book or session to help you keep pain at bay or eliminate it. Not gonna happen.
The marketers will try to convince you that their “thing” is the SOLUTION to getting out of pain. But that’s a misguided goal. The key isn’t to get out of pain or never be in it. The key is to learn to navigate it in the highest, most empowered way. To move through it and learn from it and be transformed by it. To get in front of it so that when it happens next time, you are temporarily stalled, not permanently stopped and fantastically empowered to process it in a way that serves you.
Pain isn’t the enemy. The endless quest to NEVER feel it is the monster under the bed.
The endless quest to reach some far-off future place called “Happy” is what keeps so many people miserable.
Happy isn’t a destination. It’s not a place you finally, mercifully end up at.
Happy is a journey. And a practice. And a commitment to re-calibrating, to going deep, to rising HIGHER.
High Society is opening up in a few days. It’s an invitation to STAY THE COURSE. To be your OWN solution.
And I hope you’re going to come hang out with me. 😉