Stay for a long time with that suffering because that’s how the mind will learn. The reason the habit is so strong is because when we had been able to engage in it, indulge in it, we have practiced it wholeheartedly and we have thrown ourselves in it.
When we engage in the activity or thoughts of it, we abandon ourselves to it so totally. Even with anger, we allow the energy of anger to completely overcome us, just as when we are joyful about something we sort of let go. And the same with this sort of energy and so it is not going to be easy to just de-condition it because of how it has been conditioned so wholeheartedly. So, stay with the suffering – there is not enough suffering for the mind to realize that it is not worth this amount of suffering.
The wisdom and the unwholesome are not matched in power – wisdom is little and the unwholesome is still strong.
The more we allow the wholesome or unwholesome to take place in our mind, the stronger it will get.
Even simple types of greed like food, it’s hard to resist the temptation of things we feed our craving for, over and over. Every time we eat, we feed the craving – and how much do we feed it.
So, we stay with the suffering and we also remind ourselves that feeling is just feeling and thoughts are just thoughts; and the mind is caught in the content, the concepts of this energy. The content is attractive and it feeds the feelings – so, we have to observe all of these.