Instructions:
Examine your motivation each morning. Spend some time (5-10 minutes) before starting our day in a quiet meditative or worshipful space. Establish a nonviolent, nonabusive outlook for your day. Journal what arises for you during this time.
At night examine what you did during the day.
Notice how much suffering there is in your own life:
There is physical and mental pain from sickness, aging, and death, which you naturally seek to avoid There are temporary experiences, like eating good food, that seem to be pleasurable in and of themselves but, if indulged continuously, turn into pain: This is the suffering of change. When a situation switches from pleasure to pain, reflect on the fact that the deeper nature of the original pleasure reveals itself. Attachment to such superficial pleasures will only bring more pain.
Reflect on how you are caught in a pervasive process of conditioning that, rather than being under our control, is under the influence of karma and afflictive emotion.
Gradually develop a deeper, more realistic view of the body by considering its constituents-skin, blood, flesh, bone, and so forth. Analyze your life closely. If you do, you will eventually find it difficult to misuse your life by becoming an automaton or by seeking money (or food, or _____) as a path to happiness.
Adopt a positive attitude in the face of difficulty. Imagine that by undergoing a difficult situation with grace you are also preventing worse consequences from karmas that you would otherwise have to experience in the future.
Regularly evaluate the possible negative and positive effects of feelings such as lust, anger, jealousy, and hatred.
