In math, you are frequently faced with a problem that seems trivial, too trivial to even think about;
but when you think `OK, let's see how to actually solve this problem instead of just saying it's trivial and ignoring it'..  you see it's not clear at all how to solve it.

God said to the spirit: `I will send you with a glass of mediocre wine in your hand, to stand in the middle of a huge ocean made of the finest champagne. Some of the wine will spill from your glass. Your task will be to enjoy the champagne, rather than getting absorbed in frustration and resentment about the spilled wine. For starters, see if you can get to a place where you are not starting wars because you are so upset about the spilled wine. I give you an infinite amount of time to solve the problem.'

The spirit said `That's ridculous! Why bother?.. fine if you insist I'll show you how easy it is.'
..trillions of years later, the spirit is slowly, gradually, working out the solution.

Life is so beautiful. But you cannot experience that beauty when heavy
clouds are all around you. Anger, resentment, sadness - these are the clouds.
They have their own momentum that has been accumulated. You have to
let that momentum resolve itself. You have to learn not add to it, and not
to resist it. It is out of your choice whether the current cloud of resentment will be there for next 5 minutes, 5 hours, or 5 lifetimes.
You have to be aware when a cloud is there, of the fact that is not solid,
that it dissolves with your awareness.
You can watch it happily and enthusiastically, the more experience you have of the fact that you are getting lighter, happier with time.
When the clouds are too heavy I can read these words and they will sound empty to me;
but at a moment where there is a clearing of a cloud, I realize their truth.

Patience comes more easily, the more confidence is developed.
Confidence in the Dhamma.
Confidence that when you use this moment to plant seeds of positivity,
the things you wish for are bound to come, at a moment only the universe knows.
Confidence that the more positive seeds you plant, while ups and down continue,
while the same problems, the same negative patterns rise again,
your average moment, your average day,
continue to get better, happier.

The more you are happy feeling your own progress, the less you compare yourself with others,
the less you judge yourself for your own shortcomings, the less you feel insecure or jealous with others.

Be happy with small improvements.
Don't fall into the trap of imagining how from tomorrow
you will be the perfect person you fantasize about, while feeling guily about
what you are doing with your time right now.
Instead, think of how tomorrow, or today just incase you feel like it, you are going to spend at least 5 seconds improving your life.
Look at the history of the 20th century. Look to what extent people can be absorbed with causing themselves and each other pain.
Any moment where a person breaks the pattern of blind negative reaction, even
if it is just for a moment, is a miracle. It is beautiful.
Instead of feeling guilty for following your bad habits most of the time,
be happy for each moment you snap out of them.
Like each of them is a turning of the wheel of your car by a small angle;
they accumulate and completely change your destination over time.
This feeling of happiness and enthusiasm will make these moments more frequent.
Don't compare yourself to anyone else. We have such different karmas.
Look at your own development.
If 5 years ago you spent 2 years obsessing over a girl that was totally not interested in you,
and now you spent 1 year obsessing over a girl that was semi-interested,
that's progress!
Be realistic and optimistic as S.N.Goenka says.

A moment of purity almost brings a tear to my eye.
It is a comfort to know, that with all our sins, we can always return to it,
almost instantenously.