Start with the observation

Pain narrows attention, interrupts plans and exposes how little command we possess over the body.

Follow the reasoning

  1. Calling pain meaningful does not call it pleasant or forbid relief.
  2. Some goods—patience, tenderness, dependence and a changed scale of value—become visible only when control is interrupted.
  3. A hardship can remain genuinely hard while also refusing to be empty.

A passage to hold beside it

“Belief makes the human being truly human; indeed, it may make the human being a sovereign.” 1

Read plainly

The first question in pain is often ‘How can this stop?’ A second question—‘What can this disclose?’—does not replace the first, but it can keep suffering from becoming pure waste.

Try observing this

Recall a difficulty that changed what you noticed or valued, without pretending the difficulty itself was easy.

Risale-i Nur Collection · The Twenty-Third Word, First ChapterRead this passage ↗