Life is an everlasting struggle with ourselves

Life is an everlasting struggle with ourselves. It is a tug of war between moving forward and regressing, between happiness and unhappiness. Outstanding individuals didn't become great overnight. They disciplined themselves to overcome their weaknesses, to conquer their lack of caring and motivation until they became true victors in life. One reason Buddhists chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo each day is to develop strong will and discipline and, along with those, the ability to tackle any problem seriously and with the determination to overcome it. 4/3

Life is full of unexpected suffering

Life is full of unexpected suffering. Even so, as Eleanor Roosevelt says: "If you can live through that [a difficult situation] you can live through anything. You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.'" That's exactly right. Struggling against great difficulty enables us to develop ourselves tremendously. We can call forth and manifest those abilities lying dormant within us. Difficulty can be a source of dynamic new growth and positive progress. 15/2