Mike: @omgmikehoffman
Dougie: @d0ug7a5

A lot of people have found themselves suffering from conditions and situations they didn't expect, such as long covid, the loss of many loved ones, other health issues and personal catastrophes .It's human nature to get hung up on why me, spiraling in grief and self pity. So how can we move away from that?

Concept:

The Four Noble Truths
3. That type of suffering can be avoided

The Eightfold Path
6. Right Effort: preventing the arising of unwholesome states, and generating wholesome states, the bojjhagā (seven factors of awakening). This includes indriya-samvara, "guarding the sense-doors", restraint of the sense faculties.

7. Right Mindfulness (sati; Satipatthana; Sampajañña): "retention", being mindful of the dhammas ("teachings", "elements") that are beneficial to the Buddhist path.[34][note 4] In the vipassana movement, sati is interpreted as "bare attention": never be absent minded, being conscious of what one is doing; this encourages the awareness of the impermanence of body, feeling and mind, as well as to experience the five aggregates (skandhas), the five hindrances, the four True Realities and seven factors of awakening.

Upādāna - clinging

Parables: The Second Arrow
"When touched with a feeling of pain, the ordinary uninstructed person sorrows, grieves, and laments, beats his breast, becomes distraught.
So he feels two pains, physical and mental.
Just as if they were to shoot a man with an arrow and, right afterward, were to shoot him with another one, so that he would feel the pains of two arrows…”

OR

"In the parable of the arrow, sometimes called the second arrow, you picture yourself walking through a forest. Suddenly, you’re hit by an arrow. This causes you great pain. But the archer isn’t done. Can you avoid the second one? That’s the arrow of emotional reaction. Dodge the second by consciously choosing contemplation. It will help you avoid a lot of suffering.

After telling the two arrow parable, the Buddha said, “In life, we cannot always control the first arrow. However, the second arrow is our reaction to the first. And with this second arrow comes the possibility of choice.”"

RAIN:
Recognise
Accept
Investigate
Nurture or Non-identification

Links:
https://bit.ly/3kurizo Vox: It’s okay to be doing okay during the pandemic
A thought piece on how people feeling survivors' guilt during COVID can use mindfulness to give themselves a break and refocus on helping where they can

https://bit.ly/3z6Sybe Tricycle: The Second Arrow
A short quotation-formatted version of the second arrow parable. Tricycle is a nonsectarian Buddhist quarterly magazine based in New York

https://bit.ly/2VUIqUZ Big Think: This Buddhist Parable Can Ease Your Suffering During a Crisis
An in-depth analysis on the second arrow and its place in Buddhist philosophy

https://bit.ly/3wMsTmy Wikipedia: The Noble Eightfold Path
A basic summary of the Eightfold Path

https://bit.ly/3eJThaT Wikipedia: The Four Noble Truths
A basic summary of the Four Noble Truths

https://bit.ly/3ygZcuI Tara Brach: Rain
An overview of the RAIN guide to self compassion