Can We Find Comfort In Sufferings

Where do atheists find comfort in times of suffering?

Cute animal videos are good for that. Also if you have a crying child on your hands. They start laughing within one minute.

What could bring one to find comfort in their own suffering?

The only thing that I can think of, is knowing that the suffering in the present, is it is a place from which we can make a choice. Whether to continue suffering, or move towards healing.Suffering is allowing something in our present to continue to harm us, or allowing our past wounding to affect our life in a painful way. We can make a choice however to end the suffering, ie leave the abuser, or heal our past.When we leave the abuser, or if the suffering is due to past wounding, the next applies equally.When we work on releasing the pain and integrating these wounds into our life in a way that allows them to bring us strength for having survived it in the first place, we develop a strength through this process that becomes the foundation from which we can live our lives with authenticity. In other words, when we stop suppressing, masking, drugging, or other ways we use to cope with our past and start to allow it to be and release the pain, we stop suffering and begin healing.With the healing comes a state of peaceful acceptance, and in this state of peaceful acceptance, we are open to our inner desire to become whatever we want to be in our future. We become the person we were born to be before the first wound occured, and this is a powerful creator. We can choose our future course, redefine who we are and create our life anew. Usually we recreate our life anew from this powerful and authentic perspective.So in reality, I don’t think there is any comfort in suffering. There is comfort in expressing the emotions of pain we need to get out of our physical and emotional body, because it leads to our healing.

How should one comfort a dog suffering (probably) from vestibular syndrome until she gets to go to the vet six hours from now?

[Please note that I am not a vet]  I would try to keep the dog on my lap, or within close proximity to limit her ability to move around (and possibly fall).  Close human presence is often very comforting in itself for dogs.  Add to that soothing sounds and lots of petting.  I would avoid treats, especially if the dog is nauseated and vomiting.  The best situation would be if you could lull your dog to sleep somehow.  This would reduce the nausea by eliminating the confusing visual component.  The nausea is caused not by the inner-ear problem itself, but by the brain's confusion between feeling one state of balance and seeing another state of balance.  If she is in pain and/or feeling anxious, it may be impossible to lull her to sleep naturally, so you might just have to stick to soothing sounds and lots of petting.  It is tough trying to comfort a sick or in pain dog.  I hope this helps and she feels better soon!EDIT:  promoted this question to 400 people to help a poor doggie!

What is the best thing to say to comfort someone who is suffering?

They’re in pain. They’re suffering. What’s the worst thing you can say to them?Here’s a contender: “It could be worse.”I mean, come on, how pointless and unhelpful is this? I get it. The idea is to remind the person that there are other people in this world who are in a far worse position and enduring much more pain. To remind them that most of our problems are first world, champagne problems. But it doesn’t help.Firstly, when you say that to someone, you actually add to their grief and discomfort. Because as well as dealing with whatever it is that’s upset them, they are reminded that there are people who bear heavier burdens more heroically than them, and consequently, they are made to feel weak and ungrateful for how they are feeling.Good job.Secondly, when you say something like that, you deny the existence of the other person’s pain. You are not inside their mind and body. You can’t feel what they are feeling. So it’s easy for you to compare their suffering to others.But it doesn’t change the fact that, however illogical or petty the cause of their present state is, they are actually in pain. Millions of other people also in pain doesn’t make their’s any less legitimate or real.You don’t need to say those words to someone who is suffering. They’re meaningless. They’re a fact that is undoubtedly true but completely irrelevant when someone is in pain. Those words don’t offer anything approaching a solution. They do nothing to alleviate or lighten the load. If you want to help, you might not need to say anything at all. Because when we’re in pain, when we’re struggling, when we’re in danger of sinking below the surface, most words don’t help. What helps is having someone there, someone who is willing to listen if you want to talk, accept it if you don’t want to speak at all, and ultimately, just be there with you.Words don’t always make the pain easier to bear. But you know what does? Having someone next to you, someone who cares enough to give you a slice of their most valuable resource; time.

If I avoid pleasure will I avoid suffering according to Buddha?

There is no way to avoid suffering, one can only transcend the idea of suffering. We only suffer because of our reaction to the things that happen to us. If we change our reaction to things, we change our perception of suffering. Pleasure and suffering are two sides of the same coin. Pleasure for one person is suffering for another. Suffering is needed in order to know comfort, and vice versa. You can have knowledge of suffering, just like you can comfort. However, knowledge is limited by your understanding of it. There is no understanding without experience. A real life has comfort and laughter as much as it has crying and yelling. Only we hang onto the suffering longer because it carries a heavy weight with it. Pleasure is light and free and can be easily weighed down by suffering. So it seems as though we hurt more than we heal. I am learning to move past quite a bit of what I considered suffering. It's a process, but I like the way I feel now. I smile more and I see other people smiling as well. There is nothing wrong with suffering; it's simply an experience we have. But we do not need to let these moments define our lives and certainly we do not want to avoid pleasure! Strive for balanced life, one that is filled with experiences of all sorts. Once we stop seeing our fears as our friends we can start having real life. Human emotion is a wonderful thing; don't be afraid to experience it.