My mother died this year and I have never felt such agony of grief. To say I am tortured in my misery would be an understatement. I admit that I neglected my mother and I accept responsibility for that. But even if I dedicated the rest of my life to serving others, it wouldn't compensate for the suffering I caused her. It is a given that I should not take my life. For me to try to alleviate my...

I work consciously every day with many of your suggestions to overcome inner resistance, doubts, etc., but I have one problem I don't know how to crack... as a 7 year old kid I developed juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. Until age 21 I followed medical protocol but since then I have wanted to work with this illness mainly as an emotional, energetic problem. Twenty years later I have had mostly go...

My sister and I are both going through heartbreaks. How do we best help ourselves deal with these losses?...

The blossoming of our soul -- leading to its transfiguration -- rarely unfolds in a light that we would recognize as such. Many times darkness is the medium, sorrow the seed, and the subsequent humility conceived in these trials... is the Divine Garden in which its petals open, one by one.

Whether to persist and aspire to the Higher, or drop into some dark despair, that is the question; and which of these two seeds flowers all depends on which one you choose to nourish and grow. Every life lesson properly learned is the same as... a new freedom earned.

Here is something that almost never occurs to the parts of us that so often feel lost, alone, and without direction: in each of these dreaded moments we stand in the exact place where these same parts first suggested that we go... and that then took us there!...

The more any one of your own thoughts or feelings tries to hurry, or otherwise push you along, the more you should work inwardly to slow down and to meet, directly, that part of yourself that promises you peace "just ahead"... as long as you agree to endure its pain first.

Part 1 The great universal misperception that secretly drives human conflict -- with all of its sorrow and pain -- is that the meaning of life is found somewhere outside of one's own heart and mind. Part 2 Only you can choose the nature of what grows, or what doesn't, within you.

The first act of higher love must come in the form of personal sacrifice; (it is) made through our agreement to bear into the light of ourselves those bitter, angry, unconscious and ungrateful parts of us that would rather fight with revelation than allow it to help set us free.

If we ever feel punished by what life asks of us, it's never the moment that's making us miserable. What causes our suffering is that we're identified -- and cling to -- an unconscious part of us that believes nothing else really matters in any moment... save for what it wants.

Spiritually speaking, all relationships serve one purpose: self-knowledge. Self-knowledge serves one purpose: awakening to the truth of one's self. Awakening to the truth of oneself serves one purpose: dying to oneself. Dying to oneself serves one purpose: rebirth. And rebirth is... the purpose and fulfillment of all relationships.

False self has its own unseen life; it maintains and sustains its many "I"s through a process of constant diversion. Its favorite device for staying out of sight is a succession of self-centered stories that it creates, all fueled by imagination, fear, intimidation, and other forms of deliberate misdirection.