On May 30, 1431, Joan of Arc was burned at the stake for heresy.
What things would you be willing to die for? What things do you suffer now? I know some people feel that you can’t be a good blues singer/writer/artist unless you suffer.
But what if you could set yourself free from a need to suffer? Wouldn’t it be nice NOT to blame yourself for perceived imperfections?
For today’s creative writing prompt, write about ways you cause yourself to suffer and about ways you might grow if you DIDN’T suffer that way anymore.
aim4wisdom 
Suffering…. everyone keeps talking about wanting peace, joy and love to be in this world. Everyone has suffering in their lives. Ways I caused myself to suffer are not accepting it (suffering), asking for help, letting it go, and then hoping to grow through it. Through our stories of suffering, we will probably touch and change at least on person in our lifetime. Tough topic, thanks for putting it out there. Thank you Joan of Arc for inspiring us in our lives.
You make good points about not accepting and asking for help, Susan! Thanks!
Reminded me of the Matrix. Great movie.
Agent Smith: “Did you know that the first Matrix was designed to be a perfect human world. Where none suffered. Where everyone would be happy. It was a disaster. No one would accept the program. Entire crops were lost. Some believed that we lacked the programming language to describe your perfect world. But I believe that as a species, human beings define their reality through misery and suffering.”
Oh, AA, you had me at “Matrix.” 🙂
I, like a lot of people, suffer (as much as I try not to) from guilt and worry…which I have been told by a wise, older (many would say elderly) librarian in Texas, are both “useless emotions” that serve absolutely no purpose but to cause you to suffer…and are often caused by situations you can’t control anyway…
Interesting take on those emotions….. I might respectfully disagree slightly, though. I think emotions like guilt and worry do have a purpose, which is to be a messenger. When these (and other) feelings come up, we might want to search for the underlying message. That is, don’t BECOME the feelings; instead, we can HAVE the feeling and then learn from them. Thanks, GN!