When I was a little kid, I yearned for piano and ballet lessons. Apparently, my mother always wanted to be a Girl Scout, so I got sucked into being a Brownie instead. It was the beginning of the harsh realization that life didn’t always produce the results to which I would like to have been accustomed. No lemonade for me. Oh to be young and have no control.
To be fair, I will admit that the cost of piano and ballet lessons was out of the question for my dear widowed mother whose sole focus was on feeding her three children and keeping a roof over our heads. But of course, my small child self didn’t see it that way. I only saw that I didn’t get what I wanted. I vividly remember fretting over how one moves from a $0.25 per week allowance to acquiring an entire house plus contents and everything else that goes with being a grown-up. I also freaked out over the thought of being put in jail because I couldn’t afford the overdue fee of a library book Hence, at a tender young age, I developed a healthy sense of poverty consciousness that I wrestled with throughout my adult years. It wasn’t really a very good start to life.
Around age six, I poked a small finger at my own body and then at the body of a friend and wondered, “who” is in there, and why is she in “there” and why am I in “here”? Why does she live in her family, and why do I live in mine? Who decides? It was this same young friend who said to me, “Did you ever think that none of this is real?” Hmmm. Heady questions for a couple of little ones, wouldn’t you say?
Hence began my lifelong spiritual quest, and what an exciting, amazing, baffling, mystifying experience it has been. I’ve heard people say they’re not interested in finding inner peace because it would be boring. Boring? Ask anyone committed to a personal spiritual quest they will say that it is anything but.
Why was I born into a financially-challenged family? Why am I “in here” and why are you “in there”? Why are there as many life situations and circumstances as there are people on the planet? The only thing that I know for sure is that there is always a reason. For everything.
I believe that every life circumstance is a divinely orchestrated opportunity to provide us with the lessons necessary for our soul’s evolution. There are so many rich blessings and lessons to be gained from each one, if we can see past the blind spots that cloud the vision of what appears to be real, but in truth is only the illusion that we make up in our own heads.
My lifetime as a spiritual seeker has taught me that my work is just to grow where I’m planted. Certainly life hasn’t all been fun and games, but my willingness to travel down this road has led me to a place where I am content, happy, and at peace with myself. And by the way—it has never been boring.
Circumstances may appear to be immutable, but minds are not. They can be changed. A change of mind brings a change of life, both on a personal level and on the world stage. Every mind makes a difference. And it’s up to each one of us how we choose to think.
I began my life poor in mind, body, and spirit, but poverty has been replaced by a wealth of spirit. Now I can afford the overdue library book fee, and the house and its contents thanks to the realization that everything I need is readily available if I look within myself. There are miracles hiding inside waiting to happen. Seek and ye shall find.
Note: The photo above is courtesy of New Waves of Light, a website designed by anonymous individuals around the world who share the intention of bringing light and love to a world of darkness and chaos. (newwavesoflight.org or NWOL.us).
Thanks Julia.