Craving and Rejecting

The next time you find yourself stressed out, or challenged mentally or emotionally or physically, or whatever, see if you can just witness it. Without judgment, without expectation, just simple observation. See if you can observe the process of craving and rejecting. This simple cycle of craving something and rejecting another thing which can be applied to so many instances. It can be as basic as you have an itch on your face, you crave to be more comfortable and not feel that itch, so you reject the itch and the feeling of discomfort. This is the process of precept (of perceiving). The outcome is the action; you scratch the itch. This is a simple example. Now think of it on a much greater scale.

Your friend, or family member, or significant other, or coworker, or neighbor communicates that something you did or said was hurtful or offensive or uncomfortable in some way. You reject his or her feelings because they are not agreeable and you crave for things to just be fine and easy instead of questionable or difficult. So you deny or argue against his or her feelings instead of just accept that somebody in your life may feel a way that differs from how you feel. This forcefulness and pressure only makes things worse, and now you are hurt, offended, or uncomfortable too.