9/30/2020 The Four Thoughts that Turn the Mind: Part Two: Suffering - Wellness, Disease Prevention, And

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The Four Thoughts that Turn the Mind: Part Two:

Suffering

MICHELE HAPPE BLOG (HTTPS://WWW.MENTALHELP.NET/BLOGS/MICHELE-HAPPE-BLOG/) BY MICHELE HAPPE, MA, CERTIFIED

HEALTH COACH (HTTPS://WWW.MENTALHELP.NET/CONTRIBUTORS/HAPPE/)

I am a certified health coach specializing in recovery coaching, mindfulness coaching, and health coaching. I
work with all attachments including substance, codependency, and food ...Read More
(https://www.mentalhelp.net/contributors/happe/)

I am going to be sharing a Buddhist concept that is very helpful for anyone suffering in any way. In
the preliminary practice in Tibetan Buddhism, the student is called upon to contemplate the Four
Thoughts that Turn the Mind. They are:

Impermanence
Suffering
Karma
Precious Human Birth

I will be discussing Suffering in this post.

The primary causes of suffering in the Buddhist concept are attachment and aversion. I remember
when I was into metaphysics, I kept hearing that suffering is optional. Intuitively, this just did not
make sense to me. Then, while reading Jack Kornfield’s A Path with Heart, I found information that
Get Help
allowed me to be comfortable with theFor You
truth or a Loved
of suffering. FirstOne Here...
suffering is inevitable, it is part of the
deal. Examples of this kind of suffering are loss of loved ones….if you love a person or a pet, when
they pass(as impermanence dictates) Click
youHere for More
will invariably Info. the suffering of grief.
experience

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9/30/2020 The Four Thoughts that Turn the Mind: Part Two: Suffering - Wellness, Disease Prevention, And Stress Reduction Information

Secondly there is such a thing as unnecessary suffering. THIS is the suffering that is caused by
attachment and aversion. If we grasp on to “good” things this grasping will inevitably cause of
suffering. If we run from pain, that act of aversion will actually cause more pain. Addict’s are great
examples of attachment and aversion in action. They are attached to substance or additive behavior
in order to avoid pain…which of course only causes more pain as addiction sets in and family
structures begin to fall apart. It is easy to see how suffering and impermanence are intertwined. It is
the denial(aversion) of impermanence which gives rise to so much unnecessary suffering.

Once we understand that suffering is part of the deal, when it comes we can freely grieve until, as
impermanence dictates it passes. It eliminates the piling on of suffering that comes with resistance.
Wasn’t it Jesus who said “resist nothing” and in AA, we hear “what we resist persists”…When we let
go of aversion we enter into what the Buddhists call the “middle way”. In the middle way, there are no
big deals. Pain comes and pain goes. We begin to feel the joy that comes from letting go of
grasping.

What a wonderful way to treat addiction…

There is much confusion about the quote from the Shakyamuni Buddha, “Life is suffering”. The
nihilists among us say suffering is all there is. This misunderstanding turns many off to Buddhism
because they believe we will be endlessly tapped in the suffering of the world. If you read on, he also
says that suffering ends to yield to joy. This is where the term Samsara comes in. Samsara means
simultaneously suffering and to be human. Samsara refers to the cyclic experience of suffering and
joy. This is not a bad thing, it is just the rhythm of life when we are in the human realm. There are
many advantages to being born human…but that will be covered in my following two posts on The
Four Thoughts that Turn the Mind.

I welcome your comments…

Be well

Keep Reading By Author Michele Happe, MA, Certified Health Coach

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Previous Post By Michele (https://www.mentalhelp.net/blogs/the-four-thoughts-that-turn-the-

mind-part-one-impermanence/)

The Four Thoughts That Turn The Mind: Part One - Impermanence

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