Taking a step toward mastery...

Life has a funny way of testing us and balancing us every chance it gets.  When we get a little high on our pride and achievements, we are provided with a situation or circumstance to bring us back to reality.  When we feel down and out and things seem to be a struggle, we are provided with equal opportunities to realize and actualize our intrinsic greatness.  You see, we are all born with this innate power and greatness that resides in every single one of us always looking to express itself.  This greatness is not just represented as confidence, strength, tenacity, power, joy, laughter, and success.  This greatness is also represented as humility, authenticity, vulnerability, warmth, and caring.  We are two-sided beings.  We are human.  We experience faith as well as fear, confidence as well as worry, power as well as weakness, times of motivation and times laziness and complacency, times when we feel as if we can take over the world and other times when we feel as if the world is closing in around us, and moments when we feel kind and others when we want to throw something through a window.  The unsettling fact in all of our lives is we are going to be confronted with challenges. Some will be minor and insignificant in their magnitude and others will be magnanimous and seemingly insurmountable.  The beauty lies in being able to see the gift in every challenge; to see the light beyond the clouds; to see the order among the chaos.  

I'll let you in on a little secret.  The master is not one who lives a life of perfection and only experiences feelings of joy, love, and prosperity.  The master is the one who, in times of turmoil and adversity, can immediately acknowledge her inner wisdom and at that moment, be able to experience a sincere feeling of gratitude for everything; the good and the bad; the pretty and the ugly; the stuff that feels good and the stuff that is physically and emotionally painful.  Our character and true nature is not revealed in times of ease and comfort but in times of challenge and fear.  It is these times which we need to open our heart to love and gratitude.  It is during times when we feel hardened that the greatest growth and joy comes from opening our hearts to our loving nature; to serve the people around us with warmth, caring, and empathy. When we silence ourselves to the noise around us and take a few deep breathes, we can begin to look around and see all the beauty that surrounds us.  When we get out of our head and into our heart, we begin to appreciate the laughter of a child, the smile of an elderly person, the passion in a piece of music,the peace in the silence between our thoughts, and the love that is all around us.  Every situation is an opportunity for us to make a choice as to how we are going to express our true nature.  Sometimes we get it perfect and other times we fail and get the opportunity to try again.  

In the grand picture of this universe, we are but a spec among specs.  We are an atom among an infinite number of atoms.  We can live our lives believing we are insignificant or we can understand a universal truth that nothing in life happens in isolation.  Just as a change in one cell in our body can affect the events and expression of a trillion other cells in our body, so can our thoughts, words, and deeds create a ripple effect to alter the course of humanity. You can choose to ignore this truth and go on living as though you are an isolated particle on a path of your own or realize you not only have an impact on yourself but an opportunity to shape the path of humanity.  When we start to see the divine presence in all that we do and experience, we begin to shed the layers of darkness around us and express the ultimate nature of ourselves which is one of light and love. As the great artist Michaelangelo once said about how he made his magnificent statue of David, "It is easy. You just chip away the stone that doesn't look like David. I saw an angel in the block of marble and I just chiseled 'til I set him free."  We all have a masterpiece that resides inside of us.  What is yours going to be?

Love,

Matt