Desire, obstacles, and suffering

It is not desire that brings suffering, but rather the distance between our present condition and our desired condition that causes our suffering. This is why sudden obstacles so easily bring us down; the new obstacles increase the apparent and/or real distance we need to cross before we achieve our desire and prolong our apparent/real suffering. The most productive way we can deal with these obstacles is by making sure that they are real obstacles (rather than merely the appearance of such) and by working out how we can most efficiently deal with them, shortening whatever distances they have added between us and our goals.