No Winter Lasts Forever

The moment you recognize the blessings inherent in your suffering, the greater your capacity to transcend your anguish, even as grief and pain threaten to consume you.

Whenever evil befalls us, we ought to ask ourselves, after the first suffering, how we can turn it into good. So shall we take occasion, from one bitter root, to raise perhaps many flowers.
Leigh Hunt

As inspirational author and speaker Andy Andrews humorously

Of Dragons and Princesses

Every staggering loss you have endured has played a major role in shaping who you are. Pain and purpose walk hand in hand.

Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act, just once, with beauty and courage.
Rainer Maria Rilke

By simple virtue of enduring what must

The Pain of Discipline

Spiritual growth requires daily recommitment. Great changes will occur when you resolve to be a little more positive, a little more loving, every day. A daily spiritual practice can elevate your consciousness, instill a sense of harmony with life’s rhythms, and promote a subtle but enduring state of joy and gratitude.

But what is happiness except the simple harmony between a man and the life he leads?
Albert Camus

The operative word is “daily.” You cannot maintain a higher consciousness by meditating, chanting, praying, or reading inspirational content sporadically. You might as well prepare for a career as a concert pianist by playing ten minutes of Mozart every other day.

We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or

What Are You Getting Out Of It?

Everybody wants to lose weight, quit smoking, worry less, find a better job, leave a bad relationship, or improve their life in some other way. In an earlier post, I asked, “How bad do you want it?” But there’s another, more important question that typically remains unspoken:

What are you getting out of it?

If all you do is hope and wish and never get around to making your hopes and wishes come true, then you are clearly getting something out of staying exactly the way you are. Ask yourself the above question, and with all the honesty and courage you can muster, dive deeply into yourself until you discover the answer. Rest assured, you do know the answer, whether or not you want to be aware of it.

For instance, your answer to “What am I getting out of being overweight?” may be:

• Members of the opposite sex don’t

What If Everything You Believe Is Wrong?

Drilling down to the essence of what you believe—with all the honesty and courage you can muster—and questioning every idea you have about God, is the key to unlocking the front door to your spiritual mansion.

I tore myself away from the safe comfort of certainties through my love for truth; and truth rewarded me.
Simone de Beauvoir

Even if you emerge with your original belief system intact, your effort will have been worthwhile. For you will now believe what you believe through conscious choice rather than unconscious acceptance.

You begin to live more consciously when you