In the early 1900s, before the age of superhighways, supermarkets, and the giant food manufacturers, things were very different, better in many ways. Small family farmers used to truck or cart each season's harvest to a small centralized buyers' market that had been set up in their area. Some farmers, more isolated than others, had to travel great distances just to sell their crops. For these...

As we all know, there are trying times when states of discouragement literally dog us -- following us around as if they're waiting for us to fall down, never to rise again. On these days, our own lackluster emotions are hounded by thoughts barking at us that nothing is right with our lives. Sound familiar? On these same days, even our smallest wish to part ways with these painful states gets p...

We may deny that we value our aches, but on the other hand, we think about them all the time. We have yet to recognize the fact that our thinking about any painful event as something real, solid and unavoidable is one of the conditions that perpetuate it. Take one thing out of the mix of elements that make up any moment in life, and it is no longer the same event. When we stop giving our life...

If you haven't noticed this yet about yourself, it's easy to see in others: we each seem to carry the weight of the world on our shoulders. The nature of this burden may change with age. When young, we feel the weight of having to choose a direction in life. As adults, we feel encumbered by all the perceived requirements of an active life: trying to control events, win acceptance, maintain rel...

We can never hope to be free as long as any part of us struggles with, or suffers over what others are doing, have done, or won't do with their lives. Besides, if we could remain aware of the often-compromised state of our own character, that is, how we still do those things to others that we don't want to do, this awakened conscience would stir in us a new need. Rather than worrying about whe...

No one really wants to talk about it, but the truth is there is a kind of evil spell hanging over each of us and our world as well. In fact, part of this global spell is our denial of its existence. It is called suffering. Everyone does it -- believing that their suffering somehow benefits them. That's how the spell works. Why else would anyone punish himself with unhappy feelings unless he ha...

Why do we accept so much unhappiness in our lives today? If you think this supposition is untrue, ask yourself why people spend so much time seeking ways to distract themselves with empty pleasures? Or why so many people push themselves along one spiritual path after another, blindly hoping that something will happen to mitigate their sense of...

When we think about any painful event, be it three minutes or thirty years old, we look at nothing more than a shadow of what once was -- something that is no more! The catch here is that these same thoughts -- these shadows of experiences gone by -- seem to have a life of their own, and in a way they do, for each carries with it a full complementary set of emotional baggage -- the still-smold...

Our lives are meant to be bright, noble, and ever ascending. This promise of our true potential is made good in us by fulfilling our possibilities and not through the interminable struggle of trying to prove what is impossible. Most of our sorrows are the stressful offspring of trying to be something we have no real need to be; they are born for attempting to do...

Psychological suffering is a waste of life. It is pointless, cruel, and above all deceptive. I say deceptive because psychological suffering is an unnecessary pain that we are presently certain is not only necessary, but actually unavoidable . . . a part of real life. Mental and emotional suffering are not a part of real life. You do not have to live with any tormenting thoughts or feelings no...

The true answer to any problem we find ourselves in is not found in our thoughts about it, but rather in our willingness to allow new light to reveal its purpose.

By changing the ingredients of our life recipe from false images and negativity to awareness and understanding, we discover a new sweetness in life.