We know that it can feellike the act of doing something new, of changing your patterns of behavior, your thoughts, your actions, your habits, your beliefs, your relationships, will require a great deal of effort and struggle for you to achieve Dear One.  But the truth is that movement, progress, change, has, does, and always will require significantly less effort from you than trying to remain in one place ever will.

As you already know very well from experience, trying to stand still in the constantly flowing river of life requires so much more effort than trusting, letting go, and allowing yourself to go with the flow.

So today, we would like you to consider the possibility Dear One, that you just may have had it backwards — that maybe, just maybe, it is your resistance to change, and not change itself, that is making the process feel so challenging for you.

What you do today matters so much more than what you did yesterday Dear One.

Your energy, your attention, your effort, your focus, your creativity, your love, will be so much better spent here, rather than there.

We don’t doubt Dear One, not even for a second, your ability to do or be or have or create anything that you want, and we never will.

Imagine if you can, how different your life, your relationships, your experiences, your choices would be if you didn’t doubt it either.

You can never undo that which has been done Dear One.

Once you have had an experience, for better or for worse, it is yours forever.

And regardless of how deeply you wish it could be so, no amount of regret, guilt, remorse, anger, self-pity, self-loathing, sadness, or hatred is ever going to change that.

But that does not mean that there is nothing you can do about it.

At any moment that you choose Dear One, you can decide to change the way that you feel about it, change the way you think about it, change what it means to you, or change its significance or importance in your life.

And changing that,  changes everything.

Raging, fearing, criticizing or whining about what is Dear One, is about as useful as shaking your fist at the rain during a rainstorm is.

No matter how much effort you exert, no matter how much you wish it wasn’t so, no matter how unjust you think it might be, there is really nothing that you can do to stop the water from falling from the sky.

But what you can do is choose how you are going to react to it.

You can stay inside if you want to. You can go outside with an umbrella, a rain coat, rubber boots, or all three. You can run around the block without your clothes on, or you can choose to go out in your favorite suede coat. You can dance in a puddle or take a walk with a lightening rod.

You can’t stop the rain Dear One, but you can choose how you are going to experience it.

Don’t settle Dear One. No matter what. Never, ever settle.

Why not?

Because the universe has placed no cap on your potential – on what you can do, be or have – on just how far you can go.

So there is absolutely no good reason why you should either.

If you want to be useful Dear One, don’t help them to carry their burden.

Help them to put it down instead.

A lack of confidence in yourself is just an excuse Dear One, it is not a good enough reason not to try.

So many of you keep asking us and yourselves “What am I doing wrong?”

When things don’t go according to plan, when things don’t turn out as expected, when things don’t go as desired, as you hoped they would, as you wanted them to, as you needed them to, the first thing you very often ask when the dust begins to settle is “What did I do wrong?”

And we can tell you Dear One.  We have the answer to that question.

Here it is:  You did absolutely nothing wrong.

How do we know?  How can we say for sure?

Because there is no right or wrong Dear One. Right or wrong is a judgment.  There is only connection or disconnection, allowing or resistance, living your life with an open heart or a closed one.

That is all.

So the next time that things go awry, in a very small inconsequential way, or in a very large and significant way, instead asking yourself “What did I do wrong?”, trying asking yourself this: Did I choose connection or disconnection? Did I choose allowing or resistance? Did I choose with an open heart or a closed one?

Do that Dear One, and what you will end up with will not be a list of judgements against yourself, a list of your faults, mistakes, bad decisions, or weakness, but a way out, a list of solutions instead.

• Do you like hiking, gardening, and being outdoors?
• Do you like movies, theatre, and literature?
• Does your life have value, meaning and significance?
• Are you smart enough, strong enough, clever enough, and brave enough?
• Are you special?  Are you worthy? Do you matter?

What do all of these question have in common Dear One?

The answer that you give to them is the only answer that matters.