Teaching #38: Suffering Equals Your Pain Multiplied by your Resistance
There is a multiplying effect in the mind between discomfort of the moment and resistance to the moment, and it greatly increases suffering…Feelings of listlessness, despair, frustration, and collapse are often indications of the amount of resistance, rather than the actual pain of the moment.
Chapter 9, Pg 91
For your reflection: This week pay particular attention to situations in which you are experiencing significant discomfort and/or unhappiness. Can you distinguish between the amount of discomfort, whether physical or emotional, and the resistance that your mind is having to the experience? One technique for identifying resistance is to feel in your body how much you are pushing away or bracing against what’s happening.