I believe we are here to grow and evolve. When we look to nature, we see this state of ongoing evolution very clearly. To be alive is to grow. And growth isn't always beautiful rainbows and butterflies - it's often full of challenge, struggle, fear, and doubt. However, we as humans have an advantage, and that is the ability to change how we relate to these growth experiences. The key to achieving this mindset is the bridging of our rational mind to our intuitive mind. Thus, we may begin to trust our journey and path, while embracing the mystery and complexity of it all. In this opening up, we allow room for the unseen to become seen.

“there is more to this world than what the eye can see.”

We must keep going in the face of adversity, not letting life’s obstacles box us in. As we face growth in our lives, we must continue to ask what we are being taught, and what we can learn in any given situation. With the tools and knowledge we acquire through this perspective, our understanding of ourselves continues to deepen, and we are able to navigate the peaks and valleys of our growth journey.

Every experience teaches us to appreciate life and death at the same time. We are constantly learning to begin and to end, simultaneously. We are on a journey of continuously shedding, releasing, and letting go. And as we grieve, we grow.

Grief accumulates…and with so much accumulated grief throughout our lives - from so many different types of losses - we often find ourselves holding a heavy load. I believe we can set some of that heaviness down, and express our grief, instead, through our love. I believe that we can befriend our grief. We can transform it by changing how we relate to it, and finding ways to deepen our connection to the love we still hold. We can invoke that love in everything we do. We can use it to be of service and spread that same love outward into the world.

I believe that tools for self-discovery are here primarily to guide us back to ourselves, and back to a relationship of trust with ourselves. We can use them to challenge and validate what we already know to be true about ourselves and our lives, to reaffirm our own intuitive gut feelings, and to help us recognize our blind spots. They can help us expand our worldview and identify our role in life.

By becoming adept at using these tools, we no longer need to rely on external authorities for the answers. Essentially, they serve as a way to communicate more deeply with our soul. They provide a blueprint that can help us cultivate a relationship with our soulful inner nature. The answers always lie within.

I believe that, as much as we’d like to, we can’t simply escape the pains of life. Learning how to build tolerance for, and honor, our discomfort is necessary for the growth process and the human experience. When we neglect this practice - it can often lead to a self-sabotaging mindset wherein we make decisions that contradict our values, censoring ourselves to the point of a full blown identity crisis.

Growth is a process that cannot be expedited.Contrary to what we see in western society, where everything is fast-paced and focused on instant gratification, it takes slowing down for us to truly be able to ponder and contemplate what we are moving through.

By cultivating patience and discernment, we can give ourselves the permission to move at our own pace, so that our maturity, learned wisdom and self-realizations can be actualized in a way that is true at our core. There is no rush - we have eternity after all.

While knowing ourselves may be individual work, I believe we cannot fully integrate new information without connection. Connection inherently involves community, and sometimes we must rely on others to help us see what we cannot see. Much of this work has to be done on our own, but it is vital that we lean into community as a way to refine our inner knowing, and to practice applying our newfound awareness in contexts outside of ourselves.

We are connected. We are all one - even in the midst of suffering. My pain is yours, and yours is mine. When we truly realize this, we can begin to lead our lives as an act of love, devoted to the universality of humankind. As we heal, we grow as one. This is the evolution I believe in, the evolution I am seeking for each of us.