It involves working with your mind, your thoughts, and your emotions in order to notice and clearly acknowledge when you’re trying to escape the fundamental uncertainty of life.

But every time we pause and stay present with the underlying energy, we stop reinforcing these propensities and begin to open ourselves to refreshingly new possibilities.

Most of us want to avoid emotions that make us feel vulnerable, so we’ll do almost anything to get away from them.

We can do this by working with the first commitment, the commitment to not cause harm. This is traditionally called the Pratimoksha Vow, or vow of personal liberation—liberation from the suffering that comes with resisting the reality of our situation, the fundamental groundlessness of life.

When the mind is wild with mockery And filled with pride and haughty arrogance, And when you want to show the hidden faults of others, To bring up old dissensions or to act deceitfully, And when you want to fish for praise Or criticize and spoil another’s name Or use harsh language, sparring for a fight, It’s then that like a log you should remain.

the precepts to not kill, to not steal, to not lie, and to not harm others with our sexual activity.

As Shantideva, an eighth-century Buddhist master, wrote in The Way of the Bodhisattva: All that I possess and use Is like the fleeting vision of a dream. It fades into the realms of memory; And fading, will be seen no more.

It involves directing your full attention to the pain and breathing in and out of the spot that hurts. Instead of trying to avoid the discomfort, you open yourself completely to it. You become receptive to the painful sensation without dwelling on the story your mind has concocted: It’s bad; I shouldn’t feel this way; maybe it will never go away.

Believing in the story line—identifying with the interpretations we put on our experience—is deeply ingrained in us.