I've written before about the Ven. Ajahn Sumedho's booklet on the Four Noble Truths, which I'm finding very helpful. For example, according to the booklet, the Pali word dukkha -- which so often is translated as "suffering" -- actually means "incapable of satisfying" or "not able to bear or withstand anything." To me, to say "life is incapable of satisfying" is very different from "life is suffering."
The Venerable Sumedho stresses that dukkha is not about you; it's about life. All of us living beings are affected by it. It's important to not think of life's slings and arrows as your personal tragedies or faults. Dukkha is how it is for everybody.
It's also important to understand that suffering comes from our reactions to situations, not from the situations themselves. Ajahn Sumedho says that even if someone is pulling out your fingernails, that person is not causing your suffering. "The actual pulling out of one's fingernails is painful, but the suffering involves 'I hate you,' and 'How can you do this to me,' and 'I'll never forgive you," he writes.
You can use less terrible things to work with the First Noble Truth. If someone is rude to you, for example, and you feel annoyed, remind yourself that the annoyance is coming from you, not the person who was rude to you. Observe the annoyance, acknowledge it, and then let it go.
This gets easier, eventually.
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