What Is The Difference Between Pain And Suffering?

I found this wonderful video on the Buddhist Geeks site and on YouTube. In the video, Kelly McGonigal says that pain is not suffering.

Dr. Kelly McGonigal is senior teacher and consultant for the Stanford Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE). She is also author of The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do to Get More of It.

She was one of the presenters in Dr. Rick Hanson’s video series, The Compassionate Brain, sponsored by Sounds True.

Suffering is simply that which we add onto our physical pain, illness, loss, grief, anxiety, jealousy. It is the commentary and judgment we place on ourselves.

In the video, Dr. McGonigal shows that experienced meditators have a different mechanism for dealing with physical pain than new or non-meditators.

Did you recognized your mechanism of dealing with pain in the video?

Are you the type that inhibits pain or the type that experiences what is going on in your body?

I used to be the first type and suffered greatly. Now, I am the second type and rarely add suffering to my pain.

Please share your experience.

The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do To Get More of It
Old Price: $26.00
Price: $14.65

This is Kelly’s book on the WillPower Instinct. I am picking it up tomorrow or Friday. I’ll let you know how it is.

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