Weather and the Second Noble Truth

Clinging to our view (or resisting pain) is the cause of suffering.  The second noble truth tells us that our resistance to our own energies is just how ego works. It is part of human nature to feel discomfort!  

Step Two and Three are about letting go of our old ways of suffering with our emotions.

We stop indulging in our particular addiction; Pema's was worry. Her lesson in letting go came when she felt dread in her stomach and discomfort in her heart.  She became aware that this was an opportunity to sit with her particularly uncomfortable "weather." That did not make it go away, but it got rid of resistance. That helped her "recreate herself." 

Mine addiction is self-condemnation. It is a kind of addiction to believing I'm "being a bad me."

When we sit in meditation and watch the weather change, stop requiring our emotions to go our way, we discover we also are not solid.  Our feelings are not solid,  they change like the weather.  We begin to sense this after we do Steps Four and Five the first time, and (through Steps Six and Seven) begin to let go of the personality traits we once thought were so permanent.