Pain in vain causes more pain

In a weird , uncanny way , life is nothing more or less than the process of choosing .. Choosing right over wrong , choosing happiness over suffering , even choosing what troubles you want to undertake !
Our choices affect our responses , and our responses affect our choices – this is the viscous cycle of karma .
And this ability to choose our own suffering (even “create” my own suffering ) is what differentiates us from other living forms – even marks us as a “higher species” .

This “higher species “ has a highly complicated support system that enables it to produce “appropriate” responses to appropriate situations.

When you move your hand over a hot piece of coal , you immediately withdraw  your hand . You pull yourself OUT OF THE SUFFERING . This is behavior is hardwired into our cells –as  response to stimuli – the ultimate survival tool mother nature bestowed on all of us .
But this survival tool only takes care of a certain physical scenario’s – move your body away from anything that can physically damage you .. blink your eyes when someone there is dust around you ..
What about the situations that mother nature did not include in the programming set of “response to stimuli survival kit “ ? What about situations compromising your emotional sanity ? Did mother nature forget that aspect ?

Absolutely not !! She gave us the most effective tool to take care of such cases .
I am talking about the grey area in our body that has the capacity to take care of the grey areas in our life – our grey cells !!
Yes !! I have it , and you have it . But do we know how to best use this tool ?

It is funny the way society has groomed our emotional responses over a period of time .

When someone scold me , I am SUPPOSED to feel sad.
When I commit a mistake I am SUPPOSED to feel guilty.
When someone insults me , I am SUPPOSED to take offence .

The list goes on and on and on.

But really !! Am I “SUPPOSED” to feel anything , just because I “HAVE” to ? Just because it is the “right thing to feel “ ??
The amazing survival responses that work so beautifully in the physical situations just fall apart into dust in emotional situations !
Shouldn't we best make use of the survival tool in a way that leads to solving a problem ? Towards SAVING myself emotionally from pain , and not pushing myself towards more of pain ??

Thankfully , all this response set is derived out of the shit society has been feeding  our brains .
THIS IS NOT WHAT MOTHER NATURE PROGRAMMED INTO US !
Therefore I can break out of it , I can re program myself .. I can change my emotional responses .. I can break out of the viscous cycle of Karma …

All this stuff is very good in theory .. In practical , it takes a lot of effort to get there 
I haven’t gotten there myself , but it’s good to know that one can at least strive to get there …

I would love to leave that as the conclusion of the article , but it does no justice to the title ..
“Pain in vain causes more pain” – this is one of the responses that has been inbuilt into us .
When I put in a lot of effort to get something , and I don’t get it – its ok .. It hurts , yes , but it is still ok .. Because  at least I feel good about the effort I have put in ..
But .. When I undergo a lot of pain , and suffering , and  realize at the end of a long long ordeal that all the pain was pointless ?!! There was absolutely no sense in undergoing that much suffering … that does not give me relief …
It causes me more pain !!