I Don't Want Suffering In My Life - ArticlesWide.com

Over the centuries Buddhism has grown into a number of collections of (typically!) inter-related ideas, but what is it all actually for? Well the Buddha himself was quite clear regarding what he was doing.
I preach one thing, and one thing alone, he said, suffering, and the way out of suffering.

Now, maybe maths may not have been his strong point, and expressing the purpose of his teaching in negative terms (away-from motivation) might well have elicited disapproving noises from the present day self-development aficionados. Yet what he preached 2500 years ago and what life coaches provide in the 21st Century undeniably point in the exact same direction.

When asked what it means to be a Buddhist, one teacher held It means that we know that we have work to do. I love the simplicity of this answer. Certainly there are several possible tools to do the work with; Buddhism is one, coaching provides others.

But how many of us find out value in doing the work? Astonishingly, and sadly, most people do not. There are several people in the world whose actions pronounce that they are happy with second (or 192nd) best; regrettably their words and their emotional life make it apparent that pleasure is simply not what they are experiencing 100% of the time :(

Why is it so tempting to settle for many drab or sad days, weeks, years? The Buddha said (with refreshing pragmatism) I choose to teach because there are some people whose eyes are not entirely covered with dust.
His vision was that majority of the people are so clogged up with the absurdity in their heads that they just can't perceive that they're stuck in a dreadfully sub-standard life, or that there are choices. This is possibly why you do not find many Buddhists knocking on your door offering to guide you see the light - they know that majority of the people just are not in the space to see that there are a lot more pleasurable and rewarding alternatives.

One more reason is the nature of suffering. It is in fact a rotten translation of an Indian word meaning sub-optimal mindsets, which could be anything from the mildest feeling of this moment being quite uninteresting to the deepest despair. Majority of the people spend plenty of time on this spectrum! The question is, where is your threshold? Definitely, it is amazing to be able to tolerate being a bit down while not spinning out fully (and regrettably many Buddhists in the West make a hobby of accepting misery in an unproductive - and unwanted - way). But there are ways to be much much happier most of the time!

Do you aspire to be happy? I sometimes ask. The answer I usually get back is Oh well, yes and no, I mean, things are OK.

This is very sad. Everybody deserves better.

Live the difference Life Coaching is based in Melbourne which offers transformational one-on-one coaching both face-to-face and on the phone. People come from all walks of life and live in and around Melbourne, interstate and overseas. Visit http://livethedifference.com.au for more information on Life Coach

Article source: http://www.articleswide.com/author/AWEA-854.html

Source: http://www.articleswide.com/article/2885-I-Dont-Want-Suffering-In-My-Life.html

bob hope mariano rivera mariano rivera anderson cooper dadt repeal comedy central roast neal schon