Insight is seeing what is there. Gratitude & Clarity can liberate us from Jealousy, anger, etcetera and allow us to feel happiness. We all have insight, we just don't always use it. When our life is good, we must remember the past, when it was difficult and vice versa. Insight can be our guide for both joy and suffering. When bringing our mind to the present and focusing our attention on the in and out breath, we unite our mind and body. As you continue to breathe in and out mindfully, you maintain a state of presence and freedom. Clearing your mind, healing your body No Mud No Lotus Printable Wall Art, Inspirational Wall Art, Lotus Flower, Positive Affirmation Quote, Printable Wall Decor, Flower Decor We shouldn’t wait until the strong emotion comes to begin learning. That may be too late; the emotion may carry you away. But you can learn now. Then, if the day after tomorrow you have a strong emotion, you’ll have confidence that you can handle the strong emotion. I]f an arrow hits you, you will feel pain in that part of your body where the arrow hit; and then if a second arrow comes and strikes exactly at the same spot, the pain will not be only double, it will become at least ten times more intense. The unwelcome things that sometimes happen in life—being rejected, losing a valuable object, failing a test, getting injured in an accident—are analogous to the first arrow. They cause some pain. The second arrow, fired by our own selves, is our reaction, our storyline, and our anxiety. All these things magnify the suffering”

We can draw strength from examples of people who emerged triumphantly from the murky waters of loss and shifted their focus to what they “have” instead of what they “lost.” An inspiring example is blind architect Chris Downey. He began to lose his sight two days after surgery to remove a brain tumor, and on the third day, it was completely gone. Yet, despite the painful challenges that ensued, Downey claims he never once considered giving up his work in architecture. According to Downey, at the age of 45 waking up blind and with no sense of smell (also lost in the surgery), was “quite frankly, really terrifying.” But, when interviewed about the resulting development of his architectural skill to design buildings with much needed accommodations for the blind, he replied “I’m absolutely convinced I’m a better architect today than I was sighted.” And when asked if he could regain his sight tomorrow, would he still want to use his newfound way to “feel” the designs he creates, he replied, “There’d—be some logistical liberation to it. But will it make my life better? I don’t—I don’t think so.” Building ResilienceSee WIRED, June 17, 2020. We must be able to forecast and be prepared for another virus outbreak as well as we prepare for terrorism and hurricanes.] Without suffering, there's no happiness. So we shouldn't discriminate against the mud. We have to learn how to embrace and cradle our own suffering and the suffering of the world, with a lot of tenderness.” The optimism from the human spirit lifts the suffering and injects new energy to keep going. Even though you may still be in the mud. The remainder of class we practiced yoga poses of strength in surrender—like the lotus flower that emerges victoriously clean above murky waters—representative of how each of us can overcome life’s painful challenges. In many traditions, the lotus flower symbolizes purification of mind, body and speech; of awakening and letting go. It embodies resilience, as rain from dark clouds slides easily off its petals and it opens itself to the sunshine that follows. In each pose we practiced mindfully observing and making peace with the darkness beneath the lotus—our fear, sadness, anger and other difficult sensations so that we could release them. We experienced the visceral lotus within our own bodies. Most young people haven’t learned how to handle a strong emotion, like anger, fear, or despair. So they believe that the only way to end the suffering is to kill themselves or kill someone else. We as parents or teachers can master the practice of handling strong emotions so we can transmit it to the young people.

If we learn how to take care of our suffering, we not only suffer much less, we create more happiness around us and in the world.So it is true that a flower is made only of non-flower elements. A flower cannot be by herself alone. A flower can only inter-be with non-flower elements. You cannot remove the sunshine, the soil, and the cloud from the flower.

Some of the situations and accidents that cause us the great- est suffering, when seen objectively, do not look very big. But because we don’t know how to manage them, they feel enormous. If we lose a loved one, that is of course a major loss. There is real pain there, and we feel it mightily. But we also can spend days worrying that some- one doesn’t like us, or that we didn’t say or do the right thing, or that we won’t get the promotion we want. These are small sufferings, rela- tively speaking, but we magnify them until they seem to take up all our mindspace. If we know how to handle the little sufferings, we don’t have to suf- fer on a daily basis. We can practice letting go of what the French call les petites miseres, the little miseries, and save our energy to embrace and soothe the true pains of illness and loss that are unavoidable. releasing the arrow There is a Buddhist teaching found in the Sallatha Sutta, known as The Arrow. It says if an arrow hits you, you will feel pain in that part of your body where the arrow hit; and then if a second arrow comes and strikes exactly at the same spot, the pain will not be only double, it will become at least ten times more intense. The unwelcome things that sometimes happen in life—being rejected, losing a valuable object, failing a test, getting injured in an accident—are analogous to the first arrow. They cause some pain. The second arrow, fired by our own selves, is our reaction, our storyline, and our anxiety. All these things magnify the suffering. Many times, the ultimate disaster we’re ruminating upon hasn’t even happened. We may worry, for example, that we have cancer and that we’re going To live is to endure an endless cycle of suffering and happiness. We all yearn to be happy, but we have unrealistic expectations that happiness can last forever. Happiness is merely the flip side of suffering; it is not something permanent. Thich Nhat Hanh teaches us that mindfulness is the way to overcome suffering and enjoy happiness. He doesn’t teach anything that relates solely to any particular religious belief; rather, his teachings relate to helping us live in the present, which is the only place and time we will experience happiness. At the very beginning of the book is a quote and approach that can be used when someone asks a difficult question about suffering that has no end in sight. During the Vietnam War, when someone would ask him when the war would end, he knew that he couldn’t tell a lie and say it would be over soon, nor did he want to say that he didn’t know because that would only cause even more despair. So he would answer, “Everything is impermanent, even war. It will end someday.”

Everyone knows we need to have mud for lotuses to grow. The mud doesn’t smell so good, but the lotus flower smells very good. If you don’t have mud, the lotus won’t manifest. You can’t grow lotus flowers on marble. Without mud, there can be no lotus.” Architect Goes Blind, Says He’s Actually Gotten Better At His Job, Lesley Stahl, Correspondent, 60 Minutes, January 2019 Issue. Ea s e want to do it at all. But he went and got tea for Mara, hoping that Bud- dha and Mara would have a short conversation. In fact, the conversa- tion ended up being very long. Buddha and Mara spoke as if they were the best of friends. Buddha said, “Mara, how has it been for you? How are you doing?” Mara said, “Not very well.” “What happened?” the Buddha asked. Mara answered, “My disciples aren’t listening to me anymore. They used to do everything I told them to, but nowadays they want to rebel. All my generals, all my soldiers, all my disciples, they want to practice mindfulness. They want to practice walking meditation. They want to practice eating in silence. They want to protect the Earth. I don’t know who got to them. Dear Buddha, I’m just so tired of being Mara; I want to be someone else. Don’t think that being Mara is all wild parties, fun, and games.” The Buddha laughed. “You think being a Buddha is such a lark? Do you know that people say things that I have never said and then they say it is I who said that? They do things that I have never done or encouraged them to do, but they say that I encouraged them to do those things. “I let go of my exalted reputation, my princely position, and an endless availability of sensual pleasures. I abandoned my throne, my beautiful wife and baby, future children, and wealth, all so that I could realize liberation. But now people come to the temple to pray and plead with me to give them all the very things I have renounced! They don’t ask for peace or joy; they just ask for lots of money, power, or for their children to have good grades on their exams. “They build a big house and they say it’s my house. But it’s only a place where people come to pass by and offer food, bananas, sweet rice, and money, so that they can have more money to spend on themselves. 51 Care: Practice self-care. Relax the area where you are holding the negative emotion. It can be helpful to place your hand on the location of your emotion with a healing intention. With each exhalation, imagine it releasing in that area of your body, dissolving like an ice cube in warm water. Send yourself compassion, reminding yourself that everyone experiences difficult moments, loss, mistakes and failure. Reassure yourself that all will be well, that you will give yourself the support you need to get through this experience and that you will take the steps to better the situation. It’s also helpful to engage in a positive ritual that releases the emotion such as talking to someone you trust who will be compassionate with you, taking a walk, practicing yoga, prayer, mediation, listening to uplifting music, reading something inspiring, writing down the emotion and throwing it away, taking a shower, etc.—whatever tends to lift your spirits. Lotus Flower Ring | meditation jewelry | strength jewelry | spiritual jewelry | mothers day gift | yoga lover | handmade ring | christmas

The first of the Four Noble Truths is the truth of suffering. We can either reject or accept this truth as an inevitable part of our existence. Then, if we accept and even embrace difficult experiences, we can use our suffering as a tool for growth. Conclusion Create: Recognize that you have the choice and ability to respond to this difficult emotion in creative new ways. Identify a character strength such as hope, forgiveness, perspective, bravery, creativity, kindness to self, gratitude, etc., to help you transform this negative emotion and to create a positive shift in perspective that better serves you. How can you learn and grow from this experience? What new positive emotions are you feeling now? Notice the negative emotion gradually dissipate and lose its power over you, as new positive emotions are created in its place. Celebrate this emancipating feeling by treating yourself to an enjoyable activity. I often teach the practice of creating a coherent narrative to place traumatizing events in proper perspective, learning the lessons we can, and claiming that we can learn as we move into an uncertain future. If we continue to look deeply into the flower, we see many other things, like the earth and the minerals. Without them a flower cannot be. So it’s a fact that a flower is made only of non-flower elements. A flower can’t be by herself alone. A flower can only inter-be with everything else. You can’t remove the sunlight, the soil, or the cloud from the flower. I visualize the lotus curled up into itself at the bottom of the water. The tender petals gradually reaching out and feeling around. The innate intelligence of the lotus (and all life) that allows this flower to know which way is up when the time arrives.

When we’re creating change there will be mud and all its discomfort and messiness. Perhaps this is a more useful wisdom than “fail fast” for those creating change inside of big organizations. Nhat Hanh discusses the question of whether or not the Buddha suffered by saying that since he had a body, feelings, and perceptions (like all of us) he should also have experienced suffering. Both physical suffering and mental suffering are unavoidable, but we can suffer much less if we don’t water the seeds of suffering within ourselves. We cannot simply consume to cover up our suffering; we need to practice spiritual skills to develop the ability and strength necessary to look deep into our suffering and make an inner breakthrough. How Can We Use Suffering as a Tool for Growth?