Dear Feel Love Now Community,

Life doesn’t always feel fair—and pain is sometimes unavoidable. But what we do with that pain is where our power lies. We can choose to meet hardship without adding more suffering.Even when life hurts, we can stay grounded, open-hearted, and aware that something deeper is holding us. You're not alone in the storm.

Here’s one of our favorite dialogues from Acharya Kashi:

[Acharya Kashi:] “The parable goes that the first arrow that we receive, we're going to liken that to a feeling of unfairness. Maybe you get a diagnosis that you don't expect, or maybe your family splits apart in a way that you don't expect, or maybe you lose your job. Those things in a human life are unavoidable sometimes.

“So what it means to be a person, we're going to have feelings, things that feel unfair. That's that first arrow. The first arrow is unavoidable. And then it's up to us whether we get hit with that second arrow. So the second arrow is, ‘This is not fair. This sucks. Why is this happening to me? I don't deserve this. How on earth are things working out for that person who's a horrible person and I'm going through X, Y, and Z?’ Those are the mental patterns that we can allow ourselves to dive into, or we can victimize ourselves. And so that's the second arrow. ‘Now I'm suffering. Now I'm in real pain.’ The first arrow is unavoidable. The second arrow is a choice that we're making.

“We can choose something else. It doesn't mean that we won't feel pain. Human bodies are designed to feel pain. We will feel pain, but we can, even in the midst of our pain, be steady. We can feel loved, we can feel taken care of. We can know that ultimately things are working out.”

We recently shared this video on YouTube, but wanted you to be able to have it on your Substack video player as well, in case you prefer that.

Having it on Substack makes it easy for you to see any other podcasts, videos, articles, or full meditation services that might be available in the Truth, Love, & Justice Series by clicking here.

If you have heard this teaching before, we invite you — as Swami so often invites us — to hear it as if you are hearing it for the first time. Often we receive these teachings right when we need them.

In loving service,The Karma Yoga Team at AYM

P.S. If you are interested in joining the Karma Yoga Team to expand your practice of selfless service, love in action, please click here.

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