The mind can create problems out of even the simplest things. Seeing that your old, unskillful habits are unnecessary is what allows you to let them go.

"Years back, when I first went to stay with Ajaan Fuang, he said, "Your only responsibility in all your activities is to stay with the breath." He meant it in a way to unload my mind, to clear away thoughts of other responsibilities. What it did of course was to make the breath seem suddenly onerous. It was a weight. It was a responsibility, something I had to worry about all the time. But then as I worked with it, one of the big lessons came in learning how to be with that responsibility and not make it a weight, not make it a burden. After all, why should the breath be a burden? It's what you do to stay alive. It's the basic process, the basic force that keeps you alive.

That was a good lesson in seeing how the mind can create problems out of even the simplest things, things that are in its own interest. Learning how to be with the breath comfortably, learning how to breathe comfortably: You can make that a big issue, a big weight. But if you step back a little bit, you realize how ridiculous that is. And that ability — to step back and look at things and say, "Wait a minute, this isn't right. You're creating unnecessary problems for yourself" — is what opens you to new possibilities. Seeing that your old, unskillful habits are unnecessary is what allows you to let them go."

~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Exploring Possibilities" (Meditations2)

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