Samsara (or suffering to you and me...)

The very first teaching given by the Buddha after his enlightenment was the Four Noble Truths. These are:

1. Suffering. The Buddha realised that life (in general) is painful. We go from one painful experience to another (sickness, loss of something/someone precious, aging, death, not getting what we want and getting what we don't want, etc).
   
2. The Source of suffering. Essentially, a craving of things we can't have, then being disappointed, causes us to suffer.
   
3. The end of Suffering. How we free our selves from this endless cycle of suffering is by (essentially) seeing that our cravings for things we want and can't have leads to our suffering. We must "let go" of this craving to relieve the suffering.
   
4. The path leading to the ending of suffering. This is path will free us from suffering, and this is the Eight Fold path, which is of the path of right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right Mindfulness, right concentration.
   This is the basis on which Buddhism is built.

I got a very good demonstration of this cycle of suffering given to me by wife: She recently admitted to me that she had been constantly buying things of the internet and in the shops. I had come to suspect that something was happening when the post-man kept leaving delivery slips through the door (there appeared to be one a day). Naturally, I couldn't blame her, as I have a job which takes me from home a lot (a lot of nights), and she would be alone a lot (moreover, I was guilty of the same thing a couple of years back). It demonstrated very well how people believe that their next mobile, car, top, job, Boyfriend, Girlfriend, shoes, Etc will bring them all that they desire (naturally, they do bring joy, but that joy doesn't always last, as is demonstrated by the high rate of divorce in today’s society).
I too am guilty of the same thing: I have recently attended an interview for a promotion (of sorts) at work. I keep finding my self thinking "When I get the job, this will be easier..." or "Once I move upstairs, we could get a mortgage, and buy a house, and..." so on and so on. I have to constantly remind my self that there were a lot of other people applying for the jobs, and I may not get them. And if I did, it would mean leaving the job I am in now which I really enjoy (if you're wandering why I'm applying for others, I'm on a temporary contract currently due in March). It's a good mindfulness trigger. I can remain mindful that not all things are certain. This brings me onto the subject I left in my previous post: Mindfulness Training.

After many hours trawling through the internet, I have come to understand that mindfulness training is quite simply being mindful at all times. SO I have recently been trying to be mindful of my feelings, speech, actions, thoughts, etc. It's one of those exercises that seem easier than it is... But I stay mindful of my defeating mind.