Suffering and Happiness

We look for happiness in all the wrong places. The Buddha called this habit “mistaking suffering for happiness.” We become habituated to reaching for something to ease the edginess of the moment. Thus we become less and less able to reside with even the most fleeting uneasiness or discomfort. What begins as a slight shift of energy — a minor tightening of our stomach, a vague indefinable feeling that something bad is about to happen — escalates into addiction. This is our way of trying to make life predictable. Because we mistake what always results in suffering to be what will bring us happiness, we remain stuck in the repetitious habit of escalating our dissatisfaction.

Pema Chödron

from the book Comfortable with Uncertainty: 108 Teachings on Cultivating Fearlessness and Compassion

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Further quotes from the book Comfortable with Uncertainty:

• Pain and pleasure go together
• The possibility of being able to expand
• Learning to leap into open space
• The healing power of bodhicitta
• Complete acceptance of ourselves as we are
• Cultivating Compassion
• Recognizing our shared humanity
• Beyond punishment and reward
• Recognizing What’s Going On
• Humor and openness
• Abandon any hope of fruition