passages-everyone-goes-hell-means-finally-free

# Everyone goes through hell, but not everyone stays... > {{Everyone goes through hell, but not everyone stays there. Stop tormenting yourself by reliving the pain over and over.}} {{Good people go through terrible things, but wise people know when and how to let it go.}} We all know that wisdom does not come easy, it often comes from painful experience. {{Many of us are very unwise in how we handle our pain. Like an animal that struggles in a steel trap, we worsen our wounds the way we struggle, deny, and fight against what simply, is.}} {{When we refuse to learn the wisdom of acceptance, we become our own tormentors.}} {{When we refuse to let go we suffer, yet we cannot let go of something until it has taught us what we need to learn.}} {{Letting go is a process of recognition, confrontation, acceptance, and healing.}} {{Letting go simply means not suffering any more than absolutely necessary, but just enough to expand and strengthen ourselves.}} {{Some suffering is needed to deepen our compassion, to grow, and to learn. Letting go means you have learned enough, and now have compassion for yourself.}} Letting go means not touching that sore spot until it is infected, and instead letting it heal. {{Letting go means carrying a permanent scar, but not a permanent wound.}} {{Letting go means you may have walked through hell, but came out the other side ready to make your life a heaven.}} {{Letting go means you refuse to be a victim forever, by letting one moment define the rest of your life.}} {{Letting go means you accept change, and you accept that your pain is not permanent.}} {{Letting go means you accept that you cannot take away the past, but you insist that the past cannot take away your future.}} {{Letting go means you are ready to move forward and live.}} {{Letting go means you are no longer afraid. It was always fear that held you prisoner; letting go means you are finally free.}} **Source:** [[books/Various Writings|Various Writings]]