No Suffering?

[wlotus]

In her diary, Anaïs Nin opined Americans seem to believe anything less than a suffering-free existence is intolerable, while Europeans seem to accept suffering as a normal part of the human experience. To her Americans seemed far more bitter and angry than Europeans. I don't know if that is universally true, but her opinion has made me question my view of suffering and its place in my life.

As I ponder various personal issues and attempt to free myself from all anxiety and self-doubt, I wonder if that goal is realistic. Is it naive to think I will ever reach a point in my life where I do not doubt my abilities and feel no anxiety about my ability to perform certain tasks? People whom I admire don't appear to have the self-doubts I have, but some of them do when I am able to talk to them privately. So should I work on accepting my self-doubts and continuing my life despite them, or are my anxieties and self-doubts a sign there is something amiss within me which I need to continue to work on?

What do you think?

Comments

[iswari.livejournal.com]

Do you mean the Newsweek cover story from a few weeks back?

http://www.newsweek.com/id/107569

[untied.livejournal.com]

yes! thanks :)

i saw it elsewhere and didn't know the source (which can make googling difficult at best)

what did you think of it?