Susie,
Have you read The Power of Now, by Eckhart Tolle? I'm not one to promote any book as a definitive truth; it's more my way to figure out what's useful and in what situations. This is a brilliant book for the sort of situation you're in right now. The basic idea is that so much of our suffering--all of it really--comes from resistance to what is now. That comes in our attachments to the past and future, which usually come in the form of fear or longing. But when we experience only the present moment, we realize that those things that make us unhappy simply are, the way that red is red and wet is wet. It's our response to them that determines whether we're happy or unhappy. So by learning to be fully present, to fully accept what we're experiencing as simply red or wet without applying judgment, we can fundamentally change our experience of it.
Anyway, it might not resonate with you the way it did with me, but it's an interesting read at any rate.
Good luck!
Andy |