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Please choose a one hour period as you go about tasks in daily life to work with each of the following exercises. Please do not attempt to do all of the exercises in a single day. To record your observations, please use a journal.

Exercise Number One

Without judgment, decision or mental commentary simply note, during the hour you have set aside for this contemplation, each time you experience physical or mental suffering. Physically you might feel a headache, muscle cramp, physical twinges of one sort or another, tension, hunger, allergies, or other physical forms of malaise. Psychologically you might feel sadness, frustration, anger, guilt, worry, fear, stress, or anxiety. Allow this contemplation to bring direct knowledge of how pervasive the experience of physical and mental suffering actually is.

Exercise Number Two

Mentally note when a pleasant feeling arises. Observe the impermanence of that feeling and notice with great care what happens in the mind when the pleasant feeling ends.

Exercise Number Three

Observe the suffering that is attendant to all forms of craving. The moment craving arises in the mind reflect on how the mind begins craving without any conscious control on your part. Look for the subtle sense of "not-enoughness" that motivated the craving in the first place. Notice the one-to-one correspondence between the strength of the craving and the amount of suffering that is present:

Please make the determination to sit every day during the week. Use your journal to record any insights or observations that arise in sitting.