As you live more consciously, you tackle each obstacle with equal parts detachment, discernment, and determination, recognizing that it contains divinely encoded instructions designed to further your growth.
The problem is not that there are problems. The problem is expecting otherwise and thinking that having problems is a problem.
Theodore Isaac Rubin
The higher your consciousness, the greater the (more…)
Odds are that your search for deeper meaning and purpose did not kick into overdrive until a crisis turned your world inside out and upside down.
God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.
C. S. Lewis
As awareness grows, you realize that adversity may be a signal that what (more…)
Though adversity may scramble the puzzle pieces of your life, it arrives bearing a gift—a shift in consciousness that deepens your understanding and appreciation of Universal forces.
In every crisis there is a message. Crises are nature’s way of forcing change—breaking down old structures, shaking loose negative habits so that something new and better can take their place.
Susan L. Taylor
The value of adversity has long been the stuff of legend. In the Bhagavad Gita, Kunti, mother of heroic (more…)
Hugh Prather
I find it interesting that those who profess to be spiritually awake are often just as asleep at the wheel as people who don’t have a clue that they don’t have a clue about life. Spirituality encourages direct contact with God; yet, without a disciplined commitment to self-awareness, seekers on the road to truth may miss the turn for humility and veer off toward arrogance.
I came across a thought-provoking essay by Hugh Prather about this phenomenon. Hugh discusses the role of the ego as it relates to the spiritual path in the context of the A Course in Miracles teachings. But his observations apply to spirituality in general. Here are some excerpts:
The day you started your spiritual path, your ego started it also, and for every spiritual motive you have, there is an ego motive as well. This is not reason to be afraid, but it is reason to be more aware.
Those individuals we know intimately who we believe are close to being awake, seem to have no interest in (more…)
Detachment is a natural consequence of spiritual advancement; it cannot be hurried along or forced.
The sages call that man wise whose pursuits are all without selfish plan or longings for results, and whose activities are purified by the fire of wisdom.
Bhagavad Gita 4:19
Allow your ego to rule your mind and detachment will remain a mystery. Allow your (more…)
Even the gravest of mistakes can be a blessing if you use it as a key to unlock inner storehouses of fortitude and resolve.
Failure is God’s own tool for carving some of the finest outlines in the character of his children.
Thomas Hodgkin
Behind every successful person is a trail of (more…)
If your happiness depends on achieving your goals precisely as you have envisioned, on events playing out according to your wishes, or on other people doing exactly what you want them to do, you are condemning yourself to a lifetime of misery.
When everything has to be right, something isn’t.
Stanislaw Lec
Giving your best and learning along the way are more important than the ultimate outcome of your efforts.
And what if I did run my ship (more…)
Surrendering to God floods your heart with peace and invigorates your weary spirit. With humility and gratitude, you place your goals in God’s hands.
It constantly happens that the Lord permits a soul to fall so that it may grow humbler.
Saint Teresa of Avila
You boldly and confidently move forward, trusting that (more…)
Julio Diaz
I’m thinking that if a mugger held me up at knifepoint and took my money, I probably wouldn’t offer him my coat as well. Julio Diaz did just that. Amazingly, his act of kindness led to a happy ending.
Click on the audio player below to listen to Diaz tell his story in this three-minute clip from NPR’s Morning Edition.
Here’s the accompanying story on NPR’s website:
Julio Diaz has a daily routine. Every night, the 31-year-old social worker ends his hour-long subway commute to the Bronx one stop early, just so he can eat at his favorite diner.
But one night last month, as Diaz stepped off the No. 6 train and onto a nearly empty platform, his evening took an unexpected turn.
He was walking toward the stairs when a teenage (more…)
In the chess game of life, you are faced with a particular universe of choices at any given moment.
Life is like a game of cards. The hand that is dealt you represents determinism; the way you play it is free will.
Jawaharlal Nehru
With every move, that universe is reconfigured, creating new possibilities and eliminating old ones.
Every turn in your life, every time you decide, you become (more…)
Let go of the belief that success is measured by specific results and you awaken to a wondrous new world bursting with adventure and opportunity.
When the outcome drives the process, we will only ever go to where we’ve already been.
Jean Meltesen
Fixate on outcomes and you risk stagnation. Dedicate yourself to (more…)
As awareness grows, you recognize that everything in the material world is ultimately impermanent. Therefore, your emotional attachment to whatever you desire must also be impermanent.
One who has finally learned that it is in the nature of objects to come and go without ceasing, rests in detachment and is no longer subject to suffering.
Ashtavakra Gita
Attachment to desires typically produces (more…)
Choose kindness, and you are acting selflessly in ways that serve God and all the world.
What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. They are but trifles, to be sure, but, scattered along life’s pathway, the good they do is inconceivable.
Joseph Addison
Choose to be anything but kind, and you are acting selfishly in ways that serve only your own ego.
In a controversy the instant we feel anger we (more…)
Your life as an earth angel will begin when you learn how to think with your heart as well as your mind.
The prudence of the best heads is often defeated by the tenderness of the best hearts.
Henry Fielding
Of course, no matter how kind you are, others may be having a bad day. Or a bad life. Let their rudeness serve as (more…)
I read this amazing story in Alan Cohen‘s monthly e-letter. He makes a nice connection between internal and external treasures and makes some thought-provoking points.
Click here to sign up for Alan’s free e-letter, which I highly recommend.
THE TREASURE IN YOUR BASEMENT
by Alan Cohen
The Padmanabha Swamy temple. Photograph: Reuters
Earlier this month the nation of India discovered a nearly unbelievable treasure locked in the basement of the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Trivandrum. The cache of gold statues, diamonds, and jewels was accumulated through donations to the temple by wealthy families over a period of 500 years. Locked in six tightly secured rooms, no one has viewed the booty for over 150 years.
The value of the find is currently estimated at a minimum of $22 billion, perhaps much more. Indian leaders are now deciding what to do with the treasure, the sum of which exceeds India’s annual budget for education for the entire nation of nearly 1.2 billion people.
Since what you see outside you, including public news, represents what is happening inside you, the news is good for all of us. You have an extraordinary treasure hidden in your basement. You own a royal fortune of (more…)
SNAP BOOGIE
AUDITION
I love stories of people who rise above difficult circumstances by pursuing their passion. Snap Boogie grew up in poverty, but instead of ending up in prison like (more…)
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Triumph of the Spirit 