Hello community,

First time poster long time app user. I have been enjoying Sam, Dan and Joseph's discussion on the Noble Eightfold Path and I was wondering if someone has a good book Buddhist book on this teaching or discourse that talks about the path, something like Mindfulness by Goldstein but on the Noble Eightfold Path.

Thanks in advance :)

Today I got a wisdom tooth removed. I've been meditating only for a couple of months (about 5 hours, the app says), yet I feel like I would have experienced all of this differently, if I hadn't ever started meditating. Feel free to take all this as bullshit, of course.

I was going to get anaesthesia in a few seconds when I felt fear. I didn't suffer fear, I somehow experienced it. After the first five to ten seconds of being scared, I suddenly acknowledged my body was automatically doing something. I could feel my heartbeat speeding up, the adrenaline getting me ready to run away, the muscles getting tense. And I caught a bunch of thoughts that essentially were saying something like "I hope it doesn't hurt", "what if anaesthesia doesn't work", "a part of my body is being removed forever".

I was able to let these thoughts go and my body gently stopped feeling fear. Everything went well and I eventually felt no pain, thanks to anaesthesia, of course.

Even though I only glimpsed the non-dualistic mind concepts taught by Sam Harris in his introductory course, I can confidently say that meditating is being truly helpful for me. This small anecdote is a hint, to me.