The following talk is given by Tara Brock, meditation teacher, psychologist and author.

I'm a stay and welcome.

When I was in high school, 11th grade, I took a world religion course.

We were introduced all the most of the major religions.

And when we got to Buddhism, it was really quick that I realized that this was probably

the religion that was at the bottom of my list of what I would ever want to be part of.

How sad is it beginning for a talk?

It's focused.

It's all about suffering and it's all about getting rid of desire.

And in my mind, what made life worth living was pursuing what I desired.

I was kind of a sensationalist and I was seeking thrills and kind of a hedonistic way

in whatever relationships, nature, drugs, adventures, whatever it was.

So the idea of getting rid of desires just didn't sit so well because I wanted to be happy

and I still do and we all do.

I just had some misunderstandings about it.

So it took a few years, plus some more suffering.

Till I started getting a deeper understanding of what it really meant to be happy, true happiness.

So in a nutshell, Buddhism does not say get rid of desires.

It really is saying, see if it's possible to let go of the grasping because it hurts,

causes suffering.

In fact, the grasping actually gets in the way of experiencing what we really desire.

It's kind of like that.

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