Your feelings are your best teachers, Dear One.

Pay attention to them and you will always know if you are in place where you are allowing well-being or if you are resisting it.

When you are feeling good, when you are happy, grateful, joyful, loving, compassionate, graceful, peaceful or content, you are in a state of allowing.

When you are feeling badly, when you are angry, frustrated, jealous, irritated, insecure, resentful, bitter, judgmental, tense, you are in a state of resistance.

In any moment Dear One, you never need to look any farther than your own feelings to figure out if you are moving towards that which you are wanting for yourself or if you are holding yourself apart from it.

The best way to take care of your heart Dear One, to strengthen it, and protect it, is to open it, trust it, and use it, as often as you possibly can.

Closing it off, shutting it down, or trying to shelter it from unwanted feelings will only serve to weaken it in the end, cutting you off from your source, leaving you far more vulnerable to hurt, deception, and negativity, than you would be otherwise.

So the next time you are in a situation where you feel like your heart needs protecting, remember, there is only one thing that you need to do; open it wider.

Are you any less spiritual, Dear One, when you skip yoga, don’t meditate, pass on the weekly service, don’t make the donation, cut in line, think bad thoughts, do not want to help, or forget to give up your seat on the subway, bus, ferry, or train to the passenger that is older, weaker, needier, or more pregnant than you?

Absolutely, not.

You are a spiritual being no matter what you do.

But it is your belief, your consciousness, your level of acceptance of the fact that you are a part of something larger than yourself, that you are one part of a whole, that you are divine, and are at once a reflection of the world around you as well as the creator of it, that determines your level of awareness of this fact.

You can choose to be a spiritually aware person, Dear One, or you can choose to be a spiritually unaware person. And that choice can change from day to day. But you cannot, not matter what, regardless of what you do, think, say, or believe, choose to be anything other than divine at all times.

• You are never going to be able to please everyone, Dear One.
• You are never going to be able to get it all done.
• You are never going to be able to live your life without making mistakes, experiencing heartbreak, or suffering from loss.

These things just can’t be done, not by you or by anyone else.

But why would you want it any other way?

You learn valuable lessons from your mistakes, you grow stronger from your heartbreaks, and you are able to know and understand love in a much deeper and more intimate way through loss.

All of these so called “failures” contribute to your evolution, Dear One, contribute to your humanity, contribute to the experience and depth of your life.

Why would you ever want to wish them away?

If with one hand you are reaching back, Dear One, holding on to things in your past, and with the other you are reaching out ahead of you, holding on to a vision of your future, is it any wonder that you feel like you are being stretched too thin in the here and now?

You should know, that which is for your greatest good, is and will always be, in the present moment.

The tradition of joining both hands together at your heart for prayer, for meditation, for your daily practice, is meant to be a reminder of this for you.

Be. Here. Now.

What you didn’t do then. Dear One, is and will always be so much less significant than what you are doing now.

What if, instead of being discouraged by what is, Dear One, you got excited about what could be?

It’s not about tomorrow, or what’s next, or what was, or what may be.  It is about right now, as it is, in this moment.

In this moment  – you have the ability to make a different choice, to have a different experience, to love a little more, to be a little kinder, to flourish, to be brave, to take a risk, to let it go, to live.  Now, in this moment –  you can choose to be confident – you can choose to take care of yourself – you can choose to impact the lives of others – you can choose to trust and try and trust and try again.  For it is the only thing that is real, Dear One.  Now.

You keep forgetting and we will keep finding ways to remind you that now is the only moment that matters.  When you come to believe this, in your heart and in  your head and in  your soul, then you will be home.  The desire to be anywhere but exactly where you are will dissipate.  All questions will dissolve and you will find peace, contentment and satisfaction right where you are.