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    “Suffering is the state of mind that regards itself as real.  We can spend our whole life trying to create a solid, lasting self.  We can spend our whole life looking outside ourselves for something to reflect this delusion of solidity, to be as real and lasting as we wish ourselves to be.  Search though we will, it’s impossible to find what doesn’t exist, and the perpetual search causes suffering.” ~ Sakyong Mipham, Turning the Mind Into An Ally (Page 14)

      “If we want to undo our own bewilderment and suffering and be of benefit to others and the planet, we’re going to have to be responsible for learning what our own mind is and how it works, no matter what beliefs we hold.  Once we see how our mind works, we see how our life works, too.  That changes us.” ~ Sakyong Mipham, Turning the Mind Into An Ally (Page 5)

        “You may find it hard to recognize that time is the cause of your suffering or your problems.  You believe that they are caused by specific situations in your life, and seen from a conventional viewpoint, this is true.  But until you have dealt with the basic problem-making dysfunction of the mind—its attachment to past and future and denial of the Now—problems are actually interchangeable.  If all your problems or perceived causes of suffering or unhappiness were miraculously removed for you today, but you had not become more present, more conscious, you would soon find yourself with a similar set of problems or causes of suffering, like a shadow that follows you wherever you go.  Ultimately, there is only one problem: the time-bound mind itself.”

        Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now (Page 61)

          “It is because we are born human that we are guaranteed a good dose of suffering.  And chances are, if you or someone you love is not suffering now, they will be within five years, unless you are freakishly lucky.  Rearing kids is hard, work is hard, aging, sickness and death are hard, and Jordan emphasized that doing all that totally on your own, without the benefit of a loving relationship, or wisdom, or the psychological insights of the greatest psychologists, only makes it harder.” ~ Norman Doidge, via 12 Rules for Life (Page xvii)

            “We look at people who are sick and we pity them because we believe that their lives has to be inherently less joyous than everyone else’s.  What we don’t see, is that when people suffer, when people feel pain, it’s just connecting them to life.  It’s connecting them to everyone else.  Because the truth is, no matter what kind of life you’re living, no matter what kind of circumstance you’re in, you’re going to feel miserable sometimes; You’re going to have nights when you feel like the entire world is closing in on you, and it’s never going to be okay again, and you’re always going to be alone—and you’re going to have days when you feel so happy to be alive; where you feel joyous and you feel inspired… And you are always going to feel all of that.  No matter if all of your dreams come true, and you’re living in that New York loft apartment, doing whatever you’ve ever wanted to do, and are in love and married and what not—you’re still going to feel the complexity of life.  Because life doesn’t discriminate between circumstance.  Life is not going to stop unfolding itself to you just because you’re sick or because your life isn’t how you think it’s supposed to be.  There is still going to be beauty.” ~ Claire Wineland, Klick MUSE New York

              “Innovation doesn’t happen because there’s some person who’s in some great circumstance and everything is going well and they get on a roll and they make something for the world.  Innovation happens—art happens—because of suffering.” ~ Claire Wineland, Klick MUSE New York

                “I have lived a life of a lot of pain and I’m not pretending that I haven’t.  I’ve had to deal with death; I’ve had to deal with painful surgeries; I’ve had to deal with being alone and scared in the hospital.  But I have had a beautiful life—and one that I am so incredibly proud of.  And that is not in spite of having Cystic Fibrosis… That’s because of it.” ~ Claire Wineland (19), Zappos All Hands Meeting

                  “Whether we’re talking about mental or physical effort, the first step to embracing the suck is to step up and face your fear of suffering.  We all share this fear, which stems from a deep-rooted need for certainty and security.  Pain is your body’s way of telling you that security is threatened because something is out of whack.  However, when you consistently experience the personal growth that accrues from deliberately putting yourself out of balance, such as with hard workouts, you begin to embrace that temporary pain for the rewards it brings.  The fear recedes into oblivion as you embrace the suck.” ~ Mark Divine, The Way of the Seal

                    “Without suffering and doubts, the mind will come to rest on clichés and stay there, until the spirit dies as well.  You must continually start over and challenge yourself.” ~ Robert Greene, Mastery

                      “The person you marry is the person you fight with.  The house you buy is the house you repair.  The dream job you take is the job you stress over.  Everything comes with an inherent sacrifice—whatever makes us feel good will also inevitably make us feel bad.  What we gain is also what we lose.  What creates our positive experiences will define our negative experiences.  This is a difficult pill to swallow.  We like the idea that there’s some form of ultimate happiness that can be attained.  We like the idea that we can alleviate all of our suffering permanently.  We like the idea that we can feel fulfilled and satisfied with our lives forever.  But we cannot.” ~ Mark Mason, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck

                        “Everything worthwhile in life is won through surmounting the associated negative experience.  Any attempt to escape the negative, to avoid it or quash it or silence it, only backfires.  The avoidance of suffering is a form of suffering.  The avoidance of struggle is a struggle.  The denial of failure is a failure.  Hiding what is shameful is itself a form of shame.” ~ Mark Mason, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck