Adversity awakens you. Joy awakens you. It’s your choice. No matter how you decide to experience life, it provides myriad opportunities to grow. Imagine your soul expanding as it opens to receive new energy, insights, healing and balance.

Collectively, we are engaged in evolution. We learn from our interactions with one another and with our sacred mother earth. Your light transforms the darkness. When you choose to approach your life situations with a willingness to learn, anything is possible.

So, become a lifetime student of love. Know that untold gifts still await discovery. You are not only strong enough to face whatever unfolds in your experience, but also awakened enough to utilize it in a way that is unique and empowered. No matter how far you have come, you have barely scratched the surface of your spiritual understanding.

Your life is sacred. You are a master in the process of awakening and your purpose is only to discover the divinity and potential within you. If you were to see yourself as a masterful being with a divine mission on this planet, would you live your life any differently?

It’s time to engage with the world around you. Immerse yourself within the present moment, whatever it has to offer, with a sense of peace, empowerment and purpose. Notice when you hide behind the distractions of the human condition and instead, quiet the mind and seek to express your joy in a way that soothes your soul.

You are an agent of change. Your inner transformation sparks new energy in the world around you. As old souls, we are called upon to be different, to see differently, to react differently. We must be companions and inspirations for one another.

You make a difference.

As you move to the higher states of consciousness such as Willingness, Acceptance, Love or Peace, you’ll discover that old ways of being cannot make that journey. For instance, acceptance and anger cannot coexist in the same space; therefore, anger naturally ceases to be a primary focus and eventually it drops away. The freedom, the lightness of being allows you to walk through the doorway to a new expression of who you are.

The mind would have you believe that awakening is difficult, change is hard and that these old resentments are something that you are stuck with. Ask yourself, “Who would I be without this thought or behavior?” Often, a trickle of paradoxical unease rises as you may answer, “I’d be happy/contented/at peace.” The ego fears the unknown, even when the unknown is a healthy and joyful existence. After all, what would it do or who would you be without something to fight against?

When we drop the need to have struggle in our experience, life becomes easier. We discover that miracles abound and love is available as we begin to experience life from the higher new perspective. Even better, there is always a new level to explore.

If you are a healer, send light, compassion and kindness today to someone with whom you disagree. If you are a server, extend a hand in love to someone who frustrates you. If you are a teacher, work more intimately with your most challenging student. Giving love transforms us. Giving love to those with whom we don’t identify or particularly care for transforms the world.

Adversity – especially inner conflict generated by blame, resentment or anger – is a fertile playground for spiritual growth. If there is even one person in the world who triggers you, you have an opportunity to utilize the alchemical forces of love and positive intention.

Basic kindness is the essence of your Being. Choose to open your heart and let your light transform all that you see.

Detachment is a world away from apathy. While apathy says “I don’t care” within a cloak of darkness and despair, detachment allows one to be fully engaged in life without fear or disappointment. This is the secret of happiness and it can only be found within the present moment.

Allow the Divine to express itself through you. In the Now we can participate in life’s dance by choosing to be in harmony with what is. In our free will universe there is always a choice. In the midst of anger or disruption, we might ask ourselves, “Why am I choosing to be angry when I could easily choose to be joyful?” The answer is simple – we’ve allowed the stories of the ego to have enough energy to temporarily take over our state of consciousness. The spiritual seeker may be distressed to realize they’ve dropped to a lower state of consciousness; however, the realization that you’re unconscious actually means that you are awakening.

You are far greater than your thoughts and your emotions. Observe them, detach, accept, dance, share, step into joy, repeat.

When we seek to avert pain at all costs or when we seek to protect those we love from the challenges in their lives, we block potential breakthroughs. The core of this behavior comes from the belief that we shouldn’t suffer… that the spiritually awakened should no longer draw in the challenges of daily life. This belief is what causes suffering in the human condition.

If instead, we simply saw the experiences that challenge us as opportunities to grow, we would cease to fear them. Cultivating acceptance (saying yes to life) means that we accept all that is. That acceptance immediately begins the process of self-transformation as we journey through the levels of consciousness.

Honor your own path as sacred.