6 Gems From Buddhist Teachings to Improve Your Relationship

Everything is Imperfect

Buddha’s First Noble Truth is that suffering, unsatisfactoriness and stress are part of life and long-term relationships. Although this sounds discouraging, if you really take this on board, your tolerance of the inevitable hard times will be greater. The good news is in Buddha’s Third Noble Truth: suffering can end the moment you let go of your attachment to things being a certain way. The starting point for doing this is simply bringing what the Buddha called "bare attention" - observation without judgement - to negative thoughts and feelings. Do this with an attitude of compassion and kindness for yourself. The aim isn't to make the unpleasantness go away, but to stop struggling against it while it's there.