Merry, Mary Christmas!

I would add -- it is the thinking about all the past and possible pain, drawing from our memory and imagination, that adds to the present suffering. This is why animals cannot suffer. They can feel pain, but they cannot think about it! They only live in the now. The more we discipline our thoughts, the less we will fear. Of course, Our Lordy showed us how suffering (the Agony in the Garden) is part of the human experience and how to elevate it (not my will, but Thine be done).

Magnanimity (great-soul-ed-ness) is a virtue. The common use of the word means generosity, but traditionally it was the virtue that applied reason to honors and the doing of deeds worthy of great honor. "In Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, magnanimity (also translated as "greatness of soul" or megalopsuchia) is the virtue of accurately assessing one's own great worth and acting accordingly, residing as the "mean" between the vice of overestimating one's merits (foolishness) and underestimating them (pusillanimity). The magnanimous person, having cultivated all other virtues, understands they are worthy of great honors and receives them with a measured, rather than excessive or deficient, response. They are distinguished by their dignity, a profound self-awareness, and a focus on genuinely significant matters, dismissing trivial honors conferred by ordinary people." (This quote is a good AI summary of four different article on the topic.)