Our lives are meant to be bright, noble, and ever ascending. This promise of our True Potential is made Good in us by the fulfillment of our Possibilities, and not through the interminable struggle of trying to do what is impossible. Most of our sorrows are the offspring of trying to be something we have no Real need to be, in trying to do what cannot - and need not - be done.

The following "10 Causes of Needless Heartaches" reveal how we unknowingly hurt ourselves. Please keep in mind that in each of the ten insights listed below are two key ideas: First, whenever we are goaded into attempting the impossible, we not only suffer defeat but we also strengthen the self that would have us believe it's possible to put out a fire with gasoline.

Second, as we see the fact of these false workings in our mind and heart the only possible solution is to end our participation with their foolish guidance. In other words, our needless heartaches end as we see that the healing we hope for begins with letting go of our unseen relationship with those parts of ourselves responsible for our self-hurting.

Now, let's look at just ten small places in our psychic lives where we are trying to do the impossible and where, as a result of our misunderstanding, we are still sowing and reaping the harvest of frustration and heartache.

1. It is impossible to make others see where they have made a mistake.
2. It is impossible to be carried to a secure and peaceful harbor on a ship crafted by anxiety or fearful feelings.
3. It is impossible to gain real happiness at the expense of the pain of someone else.
4. It is impossible to elevate yourself by pushing another person lower.
5. It is impossible to take advantage of others without living in secret fear of them.
6. It is impossible to realize the God-filled Life as long as we remain filled with ourselves.
7. It is impossible to rise above any fear or worry whose root we have not found to be buried somewhere in our own unsuspected misunderstanding.
8. It is impossible to receive forgiveness in life without having learned what it means to freely forgive.
9. It is impossible to wish another person any kind of ill - for any reason - and not be made sick ourselves.
10. It is impossible to hate any condition in life and learn from it at the same time.

See how many ways you can enlarge this list through insights of your own about the ways in which you are being tricked into punishing yourself. This is priceless self-study and it rewards the sincere seeker with a Life free of unnecessary sorrow.