My favorite passage....

If you look to others for fulfillment,
you will never truly be fulfilled.
If your happiness depends on money,
you will never be happy with yourself.

Be content with what you have;
rejoice in the way things are.
When you realize there is nothing lacking,
the whole world belongs to you.

This has been my favorite passage for nearly my entire life.
I believe it simply encompasses some of the more trying aspects of my own maturity.
To be consistently judged, compared, ridiculed & scared into a false identity of who you are, definitely changes someone. To have to weigh & value your own self-worth on the illogical if not psychopathic whims of a parent is quite painful.

To continually have the fortitude to search out the truth about your own shrouded spiritual identity, your own life journey is certainly refreshing, if not painfully exhausting at times. I found myself losing sight of the importance of this many times in the past. I found myself choosing not to believe in the magic of the moment, the belief that my life had abandoned its certain course & the stark realization that I was truly alone...going through the robotic motions, completing the steps of the expected ritual dance.

Many times in my life I have faced these same crossroads, sometimes prepared to dance with the devil & sometimes just afraid to look ahead, wishing somehow that this painful trip into analyzing my very soul would be my last. If you don't have a gift you cannot miss it, if you don't know how strong your body, spirit & passion can be, you don't judge yourself for not being yourself. If you don't take the time to look deeply into life & relish in the spiritual gifts of each moment & savor the magic then you don't remember how peaceful that feels.

By feeling & knowing all of this, you are held spiritually to a higher standard, at least onto yourself. You can no longer look down at that dusty fiddle and convince yourself that you never could play, that you were never in a better place.

To be content in the present, to see all things for what they are & to embrace the fabric of your own soul...to live each day, not perfectly nor idealistically, but with an open mind & open soul, ready to receive your own spiritual daily bread, is a great step forward. It is a gift back to yourself, the new set of footprints on your path...a chance to finally chose to live in the magic of each moment, the peace of the present.

There is nothing lacking...