I saw this principle at work when I worked on a spinal cord injury unit during my internship. My job was to evaluate the psychological well-being of the patients on the unit. What impressed me was that even though everyone on the unit had a similar type of injury, some were miserable, negative, and dissatisfied whereas others were truly content with their lives and, as a result, living full lives. Also, the staff told me that those who were miserable tended to die at younger ages even though their physical injury didn't warrant it. I tend to attribute these differences to being stuck with a fixed desire focused on health and physical wholeness rather than being able to accept the experiences that life offers.
Experience is our teacher.
To truly use the information pro-vided by our emotions, we have to allow ourselves to experience the full range of emotions. All of our experience is relevant and important, even the unpleasant experiences, because we have the opportunity to learn and to grow. I know that for myself, some of the most unpleasant experiences in my life have been among the most important lessons. Naturally, at the time I didn't go into these experiences willingly, thinking how fortunate I was to be able to experience such pain. No, I resisted and told myself how unfair the situation was.