It is quite common to get upset at the challenges we face.We become annoyed or upset that we are still struggling.Yet these very struggles are a great opportunity.They are our opportunity to grow.They are our chance to put into practice all the things we have learned.They are our gift to become more conscious in how we respond.They are our moments of choice.Do we choose to respond out of anger or fear?Or do we choose to respond our of understanding and love?Yes, we always can learn to love ourselves more.Yet that does not mean we have to stop loving others.It does not mean that once we have taken care of ourselves that we can not take care of others.Our choice is to how we become wiser in the moment.Our choice to let the lower way of responding go is for us.For the more we learn to respond in kindness and joy the more we lift ourselves up.The more we learn to come from a place of gratitude and peace the more we show up in a supportive manner to the world.Our trials and tribulations are our opportunity to take the spiritual understanding we have inside and bring it outside.To practice what we believe in.To make manifest the world we say we want to live in.It all starts with us.It is all up to us.The energy we bring to any situation determines more about the outcome of that situation than anything else.It is not about winning.It is not about loosing.It is not about getting what we want, or the other person not getting what they want.It is about how we feel when it is all over.It is about how well we can sleep that night.It is about how our heart feels when all is said and done.For when we truly know that we come from the proper place, we feel better.When we know deep inside that we were aligned with our higher purpose and a higher way of being, we are at peace inside.We can smile to ourselves.We can laugh about it all, if not right away, in a few days, weeks, months, years.We win when we come from our heart.We thrive when we feel the alignment to our true essence.The struggles and the trials are just an opportunity to practice and see how aligned we truly are.

~ Sam Liebowitz, The Conscious Consultant