It's the SAD (victim-y) STORY that causes the suffering, NOT the feeling on its own

Eckhart Tolle says its the STORY (meaning self pity theme) that makes it sad. not the feeling on its own. But learning to let the story 'rabbit on' in the background WITHOUT BUYING INTO IT is the ! hard part. Step 4 helps a LOT in spotting self pity though, it has to be said..

If you stay in your HEAD you get PAIN. If you stay in your BODY away ! from the HEAD, the suffering is gone. it is just a feeling. a sensation. not a 'drama', self pity or victim story.

Whatever. as you can tell it take a little bit of practice to get right. But hey why not. Rome wasn't built in a day.
It is a cool balancing act. Its like learning to be a ballerina. Except all the balance is INSIDE.
You wouldn't slag off a girl who has JUST STARTED ballet class because she topples ! slightly when she tries to balance on tippy toes would you?
Well then! stop being hard on yourself for not being able to balance very well INTERNALLY then!
It takes TIME and effort. plus its quite a refined skill to be honest!

BTW, This approach regarding the STORY being the source of the pain, is exactly the same as the 'Neither repression nor indulgence" mantra I have mentioned before. So what he is saying is nothing new really.
Mental proliferation (inventing a 'victim' STORY to go with the emotion) is just another way of getting into indulgence (too much emotion, it multiplies, runs away wit itself and turns into suffering)
But I think I actually PREFER the way E Tolle describes it.
Whatever.
Have a nice day back at work tomorrow!