The Surprising Benefits of Disappointment.

I’ve always thought that disappointment is bad.

It is.

The feelings it brings up are ugly.

And messy.

And unexpected.

It shakes our whole being and . It shatters our hopes and dreams and makes us think we’re stupid.

There’s nothing helpful about that. Expecting something then getting something completely different is heartbreaking. The pain that stems from disappointment is so severe that it triggers feelings of insecurity and hopelessness.

I hate being disappointed, but I’ve gotten used to it. I no longer assume that everything will go perfectly fine because the truth is it won’t. As a practicing Buddhist I understand that I should accept life’s disappointments rather than fight or deny them.

One of the best things I have learned in about suffering is that we can always transform it. Like a play dough, we can mold it, break it apart, and stick it together.

It sounds crazy, I know. How can we let something so painful and unpleasant transform us? How can we play so effortlessly with pain without letting it break us?