How to Avoid Unnecessary Suffering

<p>I’m all about living life to the fullest. From mountain climbing to hiking to enjoying a week at the yurt to jamming to some seriously amazing music at a local festival… But one thing that I see getting in the way of that is that we, silly humans, turn on ourselves a <strong>lot</strong>.</p><p><br /> </p><p>Like when someone says something shitty to us and when we are <strong>reacting </strong>in anger or whatever emotion, we’re also ultimately disconnected from our <strong>inner </strong>life. And when we do that, we aren’t living life to the fullest. We aren’t <strong>enjoying </strong>the pure miracle, the preciousness, of what this life is.</p><p><br /> </p><p>So what is UP with this turning on ourselves?</p><p><br /> </p><p>In Buddhist teachings, the Buddha described two arrows. The first part of understanding this story has to do with the First Noble Truth: the truth of suffering. Being born a human in a body will have some inherent suffering.</p><p><br /> </p><p>And there’s no way we can avoid it, right? We <strong>try</strong>. But when we do that we end up <strong>reacting </strong>with even more force.</p><p><br /> </p><p>And no matter how perfect someone’s life may seem, everyone - <strong>everyone </strong>- faces loss, grief, sickness and death at some point.</p><p><br /> </p><p>This is a part of the deal of being born a human, in a body, on this particular part of the planet, at this particular time.</p><p><br /> </p><p>The <strong>first arrow</strong> is that initial event itself, the painful experience. Once it happens, we can’t undo it, right? It’s happened and we can’t avoid it. The snarky remark. The frustrating event. The breakup.</p><p><br /> </p><p>But the <strong>second </strong>arrow is the one we shoot into <strong>ourselves</strong>.</p><p><br /> </p><p>And the good news is, <strong>this </strong>arrow is <strong>optional</strong>. It is what we <strong>do </strong>with the inevitable suffering that we will face.</p><p><br /> </p><p>Yes, we can react from a stress response of anger,