3 Buddhist Truths To Bring You Greater Peace

Many times you may think life is only unfair to you, and your attempts to change unfair situations don't seem to have positive results. Today I would love to invite you to breathe, look inside of you, and discover the three truths from the Buddhist tradition to make you feel better. Reflect on them and you will realize you have the ability to change this situation or anything else you desire. “Nobody saves us but ourselves. Nobody can and nobody should. We ourselves should walk the path.” -Buddha- Dukkha: Dissatisfaction, disappointment, suffering Because of the Buddhist dogma "Life is suffering," many of us have conceived this doctrine in a negative or pessimist manner. But explained in the right context, a more correct understanding is "Life is not always smooth and enjoyable, and it's OK.” Buddhists feel that the reason why many of us keep experiencing difficult situations and lots of suffering is because we try to not dive into the spiritual level of things and/or face the emotional part of our lives. In the western world, we often experience life with the repeated feelings of loss, sadness, fatigue, boredom, and anxiety. To overcome these feelings, we take medication or pursue unhealthy habits instead of finding the solution inside the problem. We prefer to camouflage pain, exacerbating its growth therefore achieving greater dissatisfaction in the long run. So, how can we use this Buddhist philosophy in our everyday lives? Avoid thinking that you always need something more to live a full life. Sickness, suffering, and death are a natural part of life. We have to learn to accept them and stay in the present, the here and now. Don't strive to have a perfect life. Remember that our difficulties and overcoming them come with great learning. When you accept the imperfection of life you will have fewer disappointments. You will free your innate openness and will be less affected by daily stress or difficultues. “Pain is inevitable but suffering is optional.” -Buddha- Anitya: Life is in constant movement Antiya, or impermanence, means that life is in constant movement. Buddhism says we can never go back to a day that has already passed. We also cannot have the future, because it is only an illusion. When you wake up each morning you will see you've changed a little compared to yesterday. But biologically, we grow and change each day, same with our thoughts and conscience. If you accept that everything changes, the daily troubles that you might be experiencing will start to decrease. If we're conscious that nothing lasts forever, we can rest assured that all the bad will also end. But what happens when you feel happy? You don't want that day to end. We're afraid to think that it will end... Try to think of this in a different manner: if happiness ends soon, then it's worthwhile to put our maximum focus on it. If you're able to comprehend the impermanence of life and it's positive side, this knowledge will free you. All you have is the here and now. How do we instill this thought into our lives? Enjoy and celebrate the changes. Don't let it scare you that what you're used to will one day disappear. Know that all the negative in our lives will go and all the great and good will stay in our hearts if you know how to feel and enjoy it. Your person and essence is the best present you can give yourself. Enjoy it and learn to be yourself every day of your life. Anatma: You change every day In our western culture we learn to feel that our "true self" exists constantly. But we don't know where and we try to guess without end. The Buddhist doctrine is based on the fact that a constant "self" does not exist. If you now understand that everything changes, the next step is accepting that you also change every day. How do we use this knowledge? Focus your energy in reinventing yourself every day instead of focusing on only finding your "true self”. There is no constant "self," but there is a hear and now "self," a "self" that can change when you least expect it. Our emotional states change because of it. Enjoy your life knowing that everything will be different tomorrow and will change. Every moment you are someone different with the power to find what you want, inner peace and fullness. “Your world is a living expression of how you are using and have used your mind.” -Earl Nightingale-