iving within us dwells an order of being that knows, without thinking about it, what is authentically good for us and others.

We have not been given this precious life in order to go through it resisting everything that doesn't suit us; rather we are created to grow through whatever we meet along the way.

We all know what it is like to be held captive of the little things in life -- those petty concerns and small desires that steal their way into how we look at our lives and pit us against anyone or anything seen as trying to take away our anticipated desire. Here is a short list of these little troublemakers that often make big trouble for us whenever we mistake them for being our friends: *...

What do we have to do to change the balance sheet of our lives so that for every measure of impatience and intolerance there may be at least an equivalent sum of compassion and consideration? How do we learn to use our relationships with others to realize a new kind of relationship with ourselves wherein we are able to discover that who we really are is all we need to be? Your willingness...

• It is difficult to accept correction from other people. How do we judge the quality of correction when someone offers advice or criticism? I look at the unhappy lives of many of the people giving input, and think that their advice isn't worth much if they have such difficulties. On the other hand, I might be missing some valuable correction. Any advice?

Part of what we have not been able to remember and use in our spiritual work is the fact that everyone around us is just like us. All the people in our lives -- even people walking by us on the street -- are seen by us (in our present way of experiencing life) as being disparate, something different to condemn or condone, to embrace or push away based on what we perceive in them. What we don't...

Between our known negative reactions towards those who we perceive to have offended us, and that healing unknown Love that restores us to the truth of each other, is hidden a kind of conscious changing ground... an inner realm whose entrance is gained by willing intention to Love, and whose sanctuary is won through self-sacrifice. Have you ever been so upset, so disturbed by someone, that i...