Four New Ways to Stop Serving Your Pain and Start Observing It Instead (Blog)

Your willingness to study, absorb, and then work on these four special practices will provide you with rewards that go beyond this lifetime. So that the more you learn to treasure the insights they are designed to reveal, the freer you will be for all time.

1. I believe the more I comfort and fill myself with thoughts of a "brighter tomorrow," the better off I am: But I can see...all discontentment belongs to an inconsolable level of self that doesn't exist without seeking something to complete itself. So, from now on: rather than identify with, and then run after what I imagine will fill my sense of emptiness, I will work to observe it instead.
2. I may be convinced that you're responsible for the anger I feel, the negative emotions that are coursing through me: But I can see...that there's a fiery part of me throwing logs onto the fire as fast as it can so that I have someone to blame for the flames that I keep dancing in! So, from now on, rather than identify with these fiery states, I will work to observe them instead.
3. I may be filled with a certainty that rushing to get something done will release me from the anxiety I feel: But I can see...that rushing to, or through anything does nothing but drive me nowhere faster! So, from now on, rather than identify with these disquieting thoughts and emotions, and race around to do as they bid, I will work to observe them instead.
4. I may be convinced my pain has been caused by some inconsiderate act on your part, and that you should be punished, accordingly, for trying to hurt me: But I can see...that it's your pain that makes you mean. So, from now on, rather than identify with my wish to make you pay for my pain, I will work to observe it instead.