Why can’t we defeat the mental difficulties that we are confronted with? Day in and day out if we feel trapped in an endless battle with ourselves, trying to make sense out of things and to get what we want, it may be time consider another approach.
The reason that we are trapped in this battle is that we have a fundamental misunderstanding of the correct way to deal with it. The typical approach to achieving happiness through force is akin to trying to keep a plant alive by shouting at it. No matter how loud or long we shout at that plant, doing so will have no bearing on its life span.
By contrast, just think how much more enjoyable it would be to take care of a plant once we understand that shouting at it is pointless. With that understanding, we will go about our tasks of watering, adding fertilizer, etc without any anxiety or tension. We know what has to be done so we just do it.
The same can be said of achieving satisfaction in our daily lives. First we have to figure what is the cause of satisfaction and then all we need to do is work on that task. Thankfully, the Buddha has worked this out for us already. The main task that has to be done is the task of bringing the mind into the present moment.
When the mind is in the present moment, suffering cannot arise because, by definition, in the present, there is no lamenting of the past or worry about the future. Therefore, if we train the mind to be in the present moment on a repeated basis, we need not doubt the certainty that satisfaction and happiness will arise as a matter of course.