The following talk was given at the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, California.

Please visit our website at audioderma.org.

Good morning.

Welcome, welcome.

As I said in my practice note earlier for those of you who are here,

it's not uncommon that when we start a meditation practice,

that we really start to learn things about ourselves, discover things about ourselves,

and one of the things that we learn about is how do we respond,

how do we react when there are difficulties?

When we are confronted with our limitations,

when we are confronted with these frailties that we perceive in ourselves

or these unexamined conflicts that are coming up or confusion or fears.

And so, sometimes when we first notice this,

we'll be noticing, not noticing, are habitual reactions when we notice some of these difficulties,

maybe some of these unflattering aspects of ourselves.

And so then, sometimes when we see these difficulties,

we might be a movement of blame.

Blaming ourselves, blaming others, blaming something.

Or when we notice some of these, I'm using this word difficulties,

there might be some anger.

Angerate ourselves, angerate others,

or maybe there's this frustration or disappointment or a sense of failure,

...