Misery

"Misery is a moment of suffering allowed to become everything.  It is the giving over to smallness that opens us to misery." Mark Nepo

Yesterday I hurt my knee by banging it against the doorframe while stepping over something.  Hurt!  I was reminded how a small hurt like that can become the focus of our thoughts, our conversations, our lives.  How many people do you know who list their many ailments, like medals won?  It seems that is living in a place where one would invite more of what is the most present topic of conversation.  So, how do we avoid misery?  By looking wider than what was hurt.  This applies to being hurt by actions or words of someone else too.  It does not help us, in my opinion, to dwell on what was done -- except perhaps to glean the small kernel of truth in it for us.  Instead, let us aim at taking things less personally.  Yes, my knee hurt.  Was it reflective of my whole life?  By no means.