Guy's Letters

Question: How can I help in the plight of black people? It appears to me that police have a state-sanctioned pass to kill them. I have listened to your podcasts for two years and have transformed my life. I love your message of living a fearless life, including: "If you give up before you light up, you've lost everything." I can intuit there is a solution because here I am, but I cannot visualize it.

Question: I have suffered from anxiety for years, experiencing many "irrational" fears that have become obsessions. Sometimes it seems that I am going crazy, and I even think of killing myself.

Question: I understand your message that everything I go through reflects something about me. But when someone betrays or steals from me, don't I have to react to the behavior and set boundaries? And to enlarge the question, what about wars and other acts of violence against innocent people? I am distressed to hear about the next assassination, even when I am not affected...

Question: Why is life so unfair? I am only 21 and yet I have had every hope of academic opportunity dashed. Things seem to go so well for others... such as having parents who love and support them, while I have had to let go of all of my dreams! Answer: Life is not "equal opportunity"... it never has been, and never will be. That is the nature of this world, and resenting the reality of it does...

I understand the need to be aware of when I am thinking negative thoughts or going over in my mind past situations that didn't go well, however what do I do instead? Could it be as simple as turning my mind to something else such as an affirmation that I can tell myself at those times?

Question: My daughter is leaving for college soon and her journey apart from me will begin. As I let her go to find her own way in the world, what spiritual encouragement can I give her? Answer: There is nothing greater in this life, to do with one's life, than to make an offering of it. In some ways, some days, this kind of sacrifice may feel as nothing, and to no end...

I am about half way through The Secret of Letting Go and have been enjoying it up until this point. But as of about a day or two ago something has changed. The insights and "aha" moments I was having at the beginning have all but disappeared. Now when I read, it's all at mind level and nothing deeper. Do I keep reading even though my false self keeps getting stronger by taking all these ideas and...

I have had an incurable disease for 10 years, and have gone through many treatments for chronic physical pain. As a result, I'm wiped out financially and can't work. I am not seeking sympathy, rather would like to deepen my surrender... which is all I live for anymore. When the pain gets overwhelming, I can't observe it anymore, and this opens the door for fear.

I received news today that my mother has dangerously high blood pressure and I am very concerned. I know that my continual outbursts of negativity, rage, and suicidal threats are contributing. My mother is one of the most loving, amazing, beautiful people you could ever meet, and she has been there for me the entire time. She does not deserve this...

My question is about despair. After a long illness, I realize that to be happy, there has to be a willingness to not think about self or self-imagined problems. You have pointed to the need to call on the light or step into the light when assaulted by dark forces, yet I do not seem able to do so consistently because I am exhausted by physical illness.

I watched my father struggle endlessly with depression and anxiety as I was growing up; I was certain that I would be resigned to the same fate as the trips to psychiatrists' offices and medication seemed to increase for me over the years. I was told I was bipolar, depressed, and anxious, and yet I remained sober, mindful and proactive in seemingly all the right ways... still it got me nowhere...

I am in the process of starting the practice on the principles outlined in your book, The Secret of Letting Go. I feel it is a process that will take its own time for getting the expected results. Meanwhile, how do I successfully deal with actual difficult circumstances in my life? I was swindled and cheated on several years ago in a promised marriage relationship, and have since been involved...