No Mud, No Lotus: The Art of Transforming Suffering

I will practice mindful breathing and walking in order to recognize and to look deeply into my anger. I know that the roots of anger can be found in my wrong perceptions and lack of understanding of the suffering in myself and in the other person.

The hardest thing to practice is not allowing yourself to be overwhelmed by despair. When you’re overwhelmed by despair, all you can see is suffering everywhere you look. You feel as if the worst thing is happening to you. But we must remember that suffering is a kind of mud that we need in order to generate joy and happiness. Without suffering, th

The way to go home without fear of being overwhelmed by the pain is by practicing mindful walking or mindful breathing to generate the energy of mindfulness. Fortified with that energy, we recognize the painful feeling inside and embrace it tenderly. We lullaby the crying baby.

Before you can be there for someone else, you have to be there for yourself. So we practice this mantra first with ourselves. “I am here for you” also means that I am here for myself. The mind goes home to the body and we become aware that we have a body. This is something we forget, especially when we’re absorbed in our work. The practice of breat

When we experience a strong emotion, the mind is agitated like the top of the tree. We have to bring our mind down to the trunk, to the abdomen, and focus all our attention on the rise and fall of the abdomen.

We need to find the many small joys that life has to offer and help them grow.

One unnecessary suffering that we can let go of is the suffering of fear.

Being able to enjoy happiness doesn’t require that we have zero suffering. In fact, the art of happiness is also the art of suffering well.

understanding eases our pain and helps us transform it into compassion.

To stay in the present moment takes concentration. Worries and anxiety about the future are always there, ready to take us away. We can see them, acknowledge them, and use our concentration to return to the present moment.