Why Bad Things Keep Happening | Spiritual Reasons for Suffering and Challenge

Why do bad things keep happening? Is there a spiritual purpose for all our pain, suffering, and challenges during this lifetime? For so many of us, negativity is our default mindset, and it comes so easily. Yet, it takes work, and a lot of it, to maintain happiness and positivity – especially when faced with extreme obstacles and inherently painful experiences. If we are divine beings, loved so truly and deeply and meant to experience joy, why does God allow us to suffer so much…and so often?

This post explores just that, including the significance of suffering, spiritual reasons and benefits, and how it is possible for suffering to end.

Contents

• A Negative Default?

• Why I Chose This Topic

• The Spiritual Meaning of Life and Suffering

• Spiritual Reasons for Suffering

• When Does Suffering Stop

• Just Beneath the Surface

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A Negative Default?

Why do we, as human beings, spend so much of our lives suffering, grieving, trying to rise above challenges, and moving around obstacles? Yet, time and time again, why do bad things keep happening? Happening to us, to people we know, to people all around the world?

Why is it that a state of not being well, of fear, of confusion, of depression, of anxiety - why do these negative, painful states seem to come so easily and so often? While conversely, we seem to have to work so hard at being happy or content and experiencing things like joy.

Negative thoughts come easily, naturally, right? You don't have to work at them. They're just there. But the positive thoughts, well, that takes work.

There's thought stopping. Thought replacement, focusing on gratitude and positivity, raising your vibrations. And on and on. These things take effort.

The fact is that for most of us, negativity is our default state. And if we don't put in the effort, and a lot of it, to be positive, we end up in a state of negativity time and time again.

But why? Why does this happen? If God loves us, if we're here for a purpose, and are divine sparks of God's love, why do we do this? Why does God allow so much suffering? And why do we suffer so much?

And, that is what we are going to address today. Why do we suffer so much in this lifetime? What is going on? And then, of course, we will go over how to manage a state of suffering and make things quite a bit easier through spirituality and a spiritual healing practice.

Why I Chose This Topic

I decided to do this topic due to the year that I have been having. I have been continuously facing some pretty extreme suffering on and off this entire year. It's been very intense. It is like this year just hurts.

Of course, I also can't express to you the amount of growth and learning that I've also gone through, which has been massive and much more significant than any of the pain and suffering I’ve endured.

But it raises the question, why does the suffering keep going?

Take me, for example (and I know better). There are times I have the thought that maybe I'm just meant to be miserable. Maybe I'm meant to be depressed and anxious and have all of these issues and problems. Maybe I'm just not meant to be happy. And I should just accept my fate.

Like I said, though, I know better. So, I tend to no longer entertain thoughts like these when they come up. At least, not for too long, anyway.

Yet, I know this is also how so many of us feel.

And I haven't endured this year of suffering and challenges for nothing.

I went through it all to better understand this topic. So, I can share what I have learned through my experience with others going through the same type of recurrent and persistent suffering. And I'll tell you what, I am more than certain that this year has been so difficult because I asked for it. I asked for a spiritual awakening, and everything has taken me in that direction.

In a previous video, I talked about getting angel signs wrong and what happens when you misinterpret them - because I did misinterpret them big time! And I continue, even to this day, to keep getting these same signs, angel numbers, and synchronicities that I talked about in that video. However, with every struggle I face and every challenge I overcome, I understand what those signs mean more and more. I am gaining more and more understanding of why I had to misinterpret those signs and why I've had to experience the suffering that I went through.

The funny thing is that despite all of the suffering I'm talking about, I am happier and more content with my life, where I am, and how I feel than ever before. And that is why I’ve gone through it -so I can share what I have learned and experienced with you.

Check out the video about misunderstanding your angel signs to hear more about my experience.

The Spiritual Meaning of Life and Suffering

So, with that being said, let's go over several reasons why suffering is a normal and expected part of our human experience and spiritual journey. And about how if you are suffering or experiencing a lot of suffering now, it might mean that you are getting closer to your goal of being happy.

Let's talk a little bit more about how that's possible.

We Suffer Because We are Human

First of all, the reason we suffer is because we are human beings and because we are in a human experience.

We suffer because of our thoughts and expectations and because we allow the past to define us. And that’s due to our ego. It is due to how our minds, the ways that we think, and how our thoughts, patterns, beliefs, and expectations have developed throughout a lifetime.

Want to know more about the ego? Check out this video. It explains the differences between a healthy and unhealthy ego and how our experiences and interactions shape it.

The Law of Attraction

In addition to our suffering as human beings in a human experience, we also attract what we believe and expect through the Law of Attraction.

This means that not only do you have those thoughts and expectations, and you allow the past to define you, but you're also - because of the law of attraction - attracting even more of what you're thinking about and what you expect.

Whatever you're focused on, the universe is sending to you, right? So, as you expect and believe that your negative experiences from the past define you, even if subconsciously, you end up attracting more people, circumstances, situations, and experiences that fit those thoughts and expectations.

Buying Into the Illusion

Overall, we suffer as human beings because we buy into the illusion.

The thing is, reality is not real, not in the way that we think it is. It's an illusion. It's a projection of your subconscious onto the world around you. Let me say that again: subconscious projection onto the world around you. So, it's not necessarily what you're aware of. Right?

Our senses are constantly being bombarded by information coming in from the world, the environment, and this physical world as a whole. But our conscious minds can only perceive just a teeny tiny fraction of that information. We can only actively register, understand, and comprehend the tiniest minuscule portion of our total sensory input at any given time.

Some sources say the human brain can process 11 million bits of information every second. However, our conscious minds, which take in and process what we perceive and comprehend, can only handle about 40 to 50 bits of information a second.

Think about that! 11 million bits of information coming into our senses at any given moment. And we're only consciously taking in and processing about 40 to 50 bits! That is tiny compared to what is actually happening all around us at any given moment in time.

So, what happens is that your brain will then take shortcuts as it tries to predict the future based on your past experiences. It attempts to understand what will happen next and how we should best respond based on what has worked or not worked in the past.

This makes us very efficient human beings operating in the physical world. However, these assumptions our brain makes based on such a small sample of the incoming information can easily have serious consequences for how we act, what we perceive, and what we believe about the world and reality, as well as ourselves as part of that reality.

This All Occurs for a Reason

So, keeping all of that in mind, we were created for a reason. The ego and the way we process information, the thoughts it gives us, and the beliefs that have resulted from our experiences, all the ways in which we are programmed and influenced to see and experience reality, is on purpose. It's all happening for a reason.

We've been through all of these experiences, and we have become the people that we are today with our egos and the perceptions we have acquired from those experiences for a reason.

We will continue to struggle. We'll continue to face challenges, and we'll continue to suffer because it's all part of the journey that we're on.

You are a spiritual being, and I can't - you can't - take your suffering away altogether. It's meant to be. It has to be. It's part of this life that you are incarnated in.

But it doesn't have to remain the default state you're in all the time. You don’t have to feel like you're constantly suffering. Or that you are stuck in that sense of feeling depressed or anxious or whatever it is that you're experiencing because, in truth, you are meant to find joy and happiness in this lifetime.

As a spiritual being, you are not going through any of this for nothing. None of your experiences happen for no reason, no matter how good or bad they are.

The soul has chosen this path and these experiences for you. So a lot, maybe not all, but definitely a lot of it is predestined. You still have free will, but many of these experiences were predestined for you to be going through. You choose how to respond and what you want to do with those experiences, but what you can take from that is that your soul predestined those experiences and the suffering that you have, are, and will endure. It has also brought you here today to learn and understand all this. All of this predestined soul stuff is especially true if you are an Earth Angel or Starseed or any of the highly spiritual beings here on a special mission to help raise the earth's vibrations.

Spiritual Reasons for Suffering

Let's put all of this together and go over a few of the spiritual reasons why we experience suffering and why we experience so much of it in this lifetime despite being loved by God. And despite all of those thoughts and feelings that the ego makes us ask and wonder about as we pursue our purpose in this physical life,

Remember, you do deserve to be happy!!!

And if you don't know why or you don't know what might be standing in your way? Be sure to check out this video about why you deserve to be happy.

To Live with More Meaning and Purpose

The spiritual reason that we experience suffering and challenge is to help us live with more meaning and purpose. So overall, that's what it's about. All the other reasons add up to this: to help us live this life with more meaning and purpose.

But living with more meaning and purpose also means experiencing joy, happiness, high vibrations, and having what you need to keep growing and learning. This means you need the right energy to come in and out of your life. And with the right frame of mind, as we'll talk about here in a minute, your suffering actually helps you get there much faster.

So whenever you experience a state of suffering, keep the following things in mind.

Suffering Opens the Door to the Unexpected

Suffering opens the door to the unexpected. Feelings of loss, confusion, and uncertainty make you get out of your own way so you can experience things like miracles and other unexpected solutions to your problems. It allows new experiences, events, situations, and any of the things you cannot yet fathom when your limited beliefs and expectations are in the way to appear along your path.

The pain, the confusion, the disorientation, and the desperation are a blow to the ego. As the ego takes a hit, it backs off in an attempt to reset itself and figure out what to do. With the ego out of the way, your soul has a chance to be a little bit louder, and you can hear it much more easily, leading you in new and different directions that are likely to open new doors to the unexpected.

Forces You to Look Outside the Box

Suffering also forces you to look and think outside the box. So not only are you hearing your soul just a little bit easier during these moments, but you're also, with that ego out of the way, looking outside of your usual frame of reference. Out of all those millions of bits of information, you will start noticing different bits than the ones you're used to.

When you are at the bottom, the only way to look is up. You have to look someplace different. Most importantly, what you're doing in a state of suffering is looking outside of your own perspective.

Creates Growth

Suffering creates growth. So, like a diamond, when you begin this journey, you are much like the coal, and as you are under the pressure of suffering, pain, and all of this darkness, you form into the diamond you are meant to be. It is through your suffering and with the understanding that your suffering has a purpose, that it does have meaning, and it is not for nothing, that you will grow and transform into the spiritual and physical being that you're meant to be.

Leads to Learning

A step beyond growth, our suffering leads to learning.

While in a state of suffering, you're learning about yourself. You're learning about your passions. You're learning about the world, about other people, and you're learning about Spirit. Once again, you are looking outside that box, trying to find new reasons outside your own perception. We begin learning about Spirit and how it can help us in these situations - in life.

Creates Understanding

Going beyond learning, your suffering creates understanding. And this kind of deep understanding is something you will not get as clearly or as efficiently if you don't experience suffering.

So, while in a state of suffering, you are not just learning about yourself and your passions, and not just about Spirit, about God, and about angels, but you are gaining a much deeper and more profound understanding of it.

Your suffering allows you to gain a comprehension that goes beyond physical knowing, and this understanding takes your spiritual journey by leaps and bounds to new levels.

Leads to Compassion/Empathy

Suffering also leads to compassion. As human beings, we have an endless capacity for compassion and empathy. However, the only way to truly empathize with another is to have experiences that create an understanding of what they are going through. This compassion, which is likely a part of your purpose, directly results from the suffering we experience.

Suffering brings you to a state of helping others, helping the earth, and accomplishing your purpose. The pain from your suffering drives you to do something about what you care about. Since you experienced the suffering, you now have empathy. You have the desire and a more profound, more committed passion to make a difference and change things.

A Test of Faith

Suffering can also sometimes be a test of faith. The Universe will test us. The reason for this testing is to ensure that we're going in the direction that we want to go, that we really, truly want, and that we can handle what we're asking for. So, the universe will test us. It'll test our resolve and ability to carry through with what we're asking for.

To Be Closer to God

We suffer to bring us closer to God, help others be closer to God, raise the earth's vibrations, and bring the entire planet closer to God. That is in both consciousness and understanding. The more you understand about Spirit, the more you learn, and the more you understand and really “get it” in your heart, the closer you are to God. And it is suffering, pain, confusion, and challenge that gets you there.

When Does Suffering Stop?

So those are some of the spiritual reasons we experience suffering. But when does suffering stop?

Yes! It is possible for suffering to stop. I'm not saying it's going to be easy. It's a big part of your journey. For many of us, this is one of the main things our souls are here to learn: how to make the suffering that we have in this physical body stop so that we can fully embrace our purpose and mission while in this physical incarnation.

So that means it will not happen overnight, and it will not necessarily be easy, at least not in the way our limited human minds perceive what is easy. But here's what we're aiming for.

Ego Death

A state of no longer suffering is what is called an ego death.

This is when you no longer have strong expectations about what will happen or desire a specific outcome. It is when you are just content with whatever's going to happen. You feel detached from any outcome because you know and feel that whatever is going to happen will happen for a reason. That it is what's meant to be.

So, an ego death is when the ego no longer dictates what you need, desire, or want. It may still be there, as that voice in the back of your head, but your overarching feelings don't put much weight on what that voice is saying. You're just content. You know it's all happening for a reason, and you're going with the flow.

This is an experience of fully experiencing detachment. And if you don't know what detachment is, I have many videos and blog posts coming about the law of detachment and how we can integrate it into our lives to help with these states of suffering, work through depression, and finally reach that place of happiness and contentment that we are meant to experience in this life.

If you're interested, be sure to sign up for my mailing list or head over to Facebook or Instagram to get updates about when those videos come out.

Make the Decision

So, suffering will, in fact, cease to exist when you decide to stop suffering - when you choose to see things from a different perspective.

This is a choice. It's a conscious choice that you're making. You choose that, “Now I'm going to see things differently.” “I'm going to stop listening to the ego and stop allowing it to dictate how I feel or perceive things or how I understand myself as a spiritual being in a physical body.”

Stop Resisting

Suffering will stop when you stop resisting it. No matter how much you ‘think’ you might be facing your emotions or facing what is coming up from your shadow or doing all of that stuff - if you are experiencing a state of suffering, you are resisting something.

So when these states arise, make sure you face, embrace, and accept your emotions and all of the memories - everything that comes up - face it and accept it. Don't turn away from any of it. Allow these thoughts, feelings, and memories - all of it - to happen and to be part of you. To be part of your experience.

And don’t try to change what is coming to you. When you're feeling sad or when you feel depressed, your default is to try to be happy, right? To try to make it go away and experience joy in its place. But when you do this, you are actually resisting the sadness or whatever is coming up for you. And all of that comes for a reason. Everything happens for a reason. This means that when you resist these things, you ultimately create more suffering and sadness for yourself.

This Too Shall Pass

Remember, it will pass. Of course, attempting to resist or ignore any of what is coming up for you gives it fuel and makes it last longer, but the fact is that thoughts don't last. What’s more, they are not necessarily true.

Like I said before, I have the thought that maybe I'm just meant to be depressed. Maybe God doesn't want me to be happy. Perhaps I need to accept my fate that it will never happen. But all of that is just a thought. It's just a simple thought that comes into my mind.

And I know that, so I let myself think it.

I don't judge myself for the thought. I don't criticize the thought. I don't try to avoid the thought. I don't freak out because I had a negative thought. These are the types of things we tend to do normally, right? So, instead, I allow myself to accept the thoughts I have. And I remind myself that just because I had the thought does not make it true.

I can now let that thought go. No matter how many times the thought comes up or keeps coming back, allow yourself to have it and allow it to be part of your experience, and then you can let it go.

Feelings Too

Feelings are the same. I know feelings are intense. I know you can feel like you're drowning in them and that you're going to feel that way for the rest of your life, and it is all too easy to feel as though there is nothing you can do about it, especially if you experience depression.

But the truth is that feelings are fleeting. The average emotion lasts about 90 seconds before we're off to the next emotion. Feelings, just like those thoughts, are temporary, and just because you feel them doesn't make them true or accurate. So allow the feelings to come. Allow yourself to experience them. And allow yourself to heal from them.

You are Not Sick

One of the most important things that will make your suffering cease to exist is when you stop seeing yourself as sick or as if there's something wrong with you. Once again, accepting your experiences, accepting who you are. No matter what you've been diagnosed with, no matter what's happened in your past, no matter any of that physical brain and body stuff, there's nothing wrong with you as a person.

Your illnesses, your neurodiversities, your mental illnesses, all of your diagnoses, whether physical, mental, or emotional, all of those things are just experiences that you're having. They're not you. None of this kind of stuff defines you. They are just experiences that are helping you grow and develop and be the being that you are meant to be in this life, to learn what you're meant to learn.

Depression is Not Bad

When you stop seeing your feelings and symptoms of depression as bad, your suffering will start to go away.

The spiritual truth is that depression is a time of growth and a time of healing. The only reason being in a state of depression lowers your vibes is because that is what you believe it does. That is what you think it does. That's what you believe about depression and about yourself, about anxiety, about any of the states that we go through.

And once again, these beliefs are not necessarily true. Our thoughts, our feelings, and our perceptions are not always true, and that includes how we perceive depression and ourselves as beings who experience it.

I am in no way saying that it is easy to go through depression. I'm not saying it's fun by any means. I'm just saying that it's not bad.

If you want to know more about the good side of depression and how you can use it to enhance your spiritual journey, be sure to check out this video.

Just Beneath the Surface

You can’t stop suffering, and the truth is, you probably don't want to stop it because if you did, you would also have a lack of joy. It would be like taking some sort of a numbing pill, so although you would no longer experience a state of suffering, you also would not be able to experience the other side. Growth, learning, understanding, and becoming better would not occur. You'd be stagnant. There'd be no purpose and no point.

However, although you can't stop your suffering or the suffering of others, there's a big difference between feeling like the suffering is overwhelming and like it's taking over your life and instead accepting and knowing its purpose. Rather than feeling as though you have no control, you know and hold the idea that while in the darkness and in this place that feels like suffering, you are experiencing your seed stage. You're just beneath the surface. You're soaking up all the nutrients you need to heal and grow so that you can bloom and blossom into the Grand Divine Being you are meant to be.

I created a guided meditation to help you conceptualize the concepts of ego death, detachment, and acceptance discussed in this post. It is a meditation to help you reach a stage of ego death and soul consciousness.

So take some time for yourself and invest it toward your healing and growth by trying this meditation.

More Helpful Stuff

If you want to learn more about starting and building a spiritual healing practice, check out these post categories to help you get started.

• Depression & Spirituality

• Spiritual Healing Basics

• The Depression Warriors(a spiritual & metaphysical journey for healing depression)

As always, I am sending a ton of love and blessings to you all

Thank you so much for being here and for being you!!!