Ending Unnecessary Suffering

A guide to freeing yourself from self-induced suffering • Provides contemplative practices and exercises to help you recognize how you cause your own suffering • Explores the dynamics of the mind and how it sets the stage for distress • Explains how mental states of suffering are created and how to control your mind to stop those thought patterns and assumptions Most of us believe that suffering is inevitable. Stress, shame, depression, grief, loneliness, disappointment, the feeling that life is incomplete—every negative experience contributes to the emotional and psychological pain that impedes our ability to live happy, fulfilling lives. But what if most suffering could be avoided? Is there an antidote to inner turmoil that can be learned and applied to everyday life? In this groundbreaking work, Peter Ralston reveals how to free yourself from mentally created suffering. He explains how most creatures don’t experience suffering like we do. They don’t worry or fret, fear the future, or imagine they are somehow flawed or less than they should be. Exploring the dynamics of the mind that set the stage for distress and get us into trouble, he explains how mental states of suffering are created, how to recognize when you cause them, and how to control your mind in order to stop ­suffering-inducing thought patterns and beliefs. Sharing contemplative practices and exercises to help you end your inner turmoil and foster growth, awareness, and freedom, Ralston provides an empowering way to create a more complete, powerful, and peaceful life experience.