Stretch. . . What you perceive from among all the stimuli in your environment is biased by your preferences, and your preferences are conditioned by past experiences. The Buddha taught that perception is one of the five aggregates that comprise each moment of experience. The five aggregates are matter, sensations, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness.*  The way these aggregates coalesce in a moment can create suffering, or not. You can affect whether suffering occurs by developing new habits of perception, thereby changing what you notice in the future. It takes effort and practice to break old patterns of perception. You are essentially developing a new relationship to “pleasant” and becoming mindful that what matters in life is something greater than “happiness,” which is fleeting. You are discovering that “pleasant” and “happiness” aren’t reliable sources of well-being. And you are developing the capacity to meet pleasant and unpleasant moments of life equally, which conditions future moments of perception and leads to a sustained sense of well-being. In your daily life, be interested in perception and in what you notice. Is what you notice causing suffering or not causing suffering Cultivate a “don’t know mind” around perception. Notice how quickly you make a story of liking or disliking something that draws your attention. See if it’s possible for you to just notice that it’s getting your attention and keep a “don’t know mind” about it instead of immediately drawing an opinion. -Practice perceiving each moment of your life as a dharma moment. Right now, rather than focusing on your preferences regarding the present moment be interested in the quality of your mind. What we think determines what happens to us, so if we want to change our lives, we need to stretch our minds. Peace and Love, Jim #stretch #thedailybuddha Buy Me A Coffee – A Easy Way To support The Daily Buddha! The Daily Buddha – Support The Server The Daily Buddha  – Web The Daily Buddha – YouTube The Daily Buddha – Facebook