An Aha! Moment

I'm reading a new book which I think has and will continue to change my perspective on life in a significant way. Buddhism: The Essence is an e-book written by David Tuffley that is described as explaining Buddhism in plain, easy to understand English. I was astounded when I had an Aha! Moment only minutes into the book. What I read stopped me in my tracks. I re-read the passage several times, and took a few minutes to really think about what it was stating, then I felt it just click. I just understood and was astounded that I never thought of things this way before. Here's what I read:



The Four Noble truths are the essence of the Buddha's teaching. They are believed to be the basis of the first sermon that he gave after becoming enlightened.

1. If you are alive, you will suffer

We humans are imperfect creatures, and the world in which we live is also imperfect. As we journey through life we are certain to suffer physical pain from illness and injury, and emotional pain from a host of psychological factors. But not all of our time is spent suffering. Sometimes we experience pleasure and enjoyment. A pleasure-seeking person heightens their suffering because this is an expectation that there should not be suffering in the first place. This expectation leads to self-pity; It's not fair! This shouldn't be happening! Why me?! The first noble truth therefore counsels people to regard suffering as unavoidable.

This was so shocking to me for some reason! I'm sure that this idea is not new, and I'm positive that I've come across this in some other form in my life either through people, books or television. But the reality of it is that this hit me as if I had never heard it before. Although I think I just never understood it in this way before.

Everything that's been going wrong for me, has in fact NOT been going wrong. Everything in my life has happened exactly as it should have. For me to think that it was "wrong" for my miscarriage to happen, for me to get sick and go to the hospital, my break-up with Sky, my falling out with my family... None of those things are wrong to have happened. They just happened. They weren't good or nice things, but obviously the Universe or God deemed them necessary things.


I have been so busy being angry with God for "punishing" me that it never occurred to me that it was selfish of me to think in that way. Life just happens. Good things can happen just as often as bad things. And if I accept pleasure and love and joy without question, then it stands to reason that I should do the same for disappointing, sad, hurtful things.


This has absolutely adjusted my outlook on life, especially what I've been through in the last year. I am continuing to read about Buddhism, and I'm starting to practice it again. I have a long way to go on this journey of self love, discovery, recovery, change and acceptance. But I think, at the very least, I'm heading in the right direction.