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The third question is not the surrender of resignation or giving in.
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It’s about stopping our struggle to change our experience or to avoid it.
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It’s about fully entering into our experience—residing in the physical reality of the present moment.
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It is similar to the question used in the last chapter, “What is this moment?”
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When we ask this third question, it not only addresses what blocks happiness, but it also directly cultivates the quality of being present to what is, exactly as it is—a quality that naturally fosters both equanimity and appreciation, two of the essential aspects of true contentment.
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When asking this third question, it is very helpful to take a couple of deep breaths into the center of the chest; this takes us immediately out of the head and allows the answer to come from residing in exactly what we are experiencing.
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Even when the experience is uncomfortable, as it often is with sadness or anxiety, we can learn to enter into the physical reality of the experience, if only for the duration of a few breaths.
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The point is to leave the mental realm, where most of our unhappiness takes root and grows, and enter into the nonconceptual experience of the present moment, which is purely physical.
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