For most of us, leaving things alone turns out to be hard work! Without the hard work we don’t seem to be able to leave our life alone and just live. Faced with the dilemma of suffering we turn our life inside out, contorting our “ordinary mind” into an “isolated mind” that seeks to distance, control and dissociate an inner “me” from outer pain. ..Whether our project is the flight from pain or the pursuit of happiness, the outcome is the same: a life in flight from itself and from this moment. And this moment turns out to bethe only answer there is, the only self there is, the only teacher, and the only reality. All hidden in plain sight.

Barry Magid, Ordinary Mind