A man was on a train dining car having lunch. "And for dessert," he told the waiter, "I'll have pastries." "Sorry, sir, we are all out of pastries." "What do you mean, you're out of pastries?" The man was furious. "I am a very important friend of the owner of this railroad; I give a lot of business to this line— how dare you run out of pastries." The waiter continued to apologize, to no avail. Sometime later, the waiter came to the man's compartment and presented him with freshly made pastries which the chef had baked especially for him. "Forget the pastries," the man declared, "I'd rather be mad!" Sometimes no matter how many good things our life is giving us each day, we would rather hold on to an old grudge. We can release the old feelings of anger and blame and just be thankful for the goodness of life now 

There's an old saying, "Don't swat mosquitoes on your brother's head with hatchet," meaning, go easy on the people in your life. If we look hard enough, we can find flaws in anyone. We have a tendency to be critical and judging, particularly of the people closest to us. It's interesting that we tend to be much more tolerant and accommodating of people who we know only slightly. Those who we know well, we seem to judge more severely. Let's try to give the people in our lives a little more slack— at least as much as we do strangers. We can all be more polite, respectful and tolerant of those closest to us. After all, these are our closest supporters: these are the family and friends who have chosen to share their lives with us on this earth. Let's recognize and honor and give thanks for the people who love us enough to be with us. 

A man was once working behind a complaint department counter when an irate woman walked up. "First of all," she said, "I don't like your sign." Sometimes we have a tendency to complain about the way things are in our life. We hear ourselves saying often or even repeatedly, "Life is the pits." "It's not working." "Everything is falling apart." Day in, day out we may be reciting our litany of complaint: this, that or the other is wrong, wrong, wrong. We may need to release our need to complain in order to begin to see something new happening in our lives. Sometimes the simplest solution to our problems is to just quit seeing them as problems. We have many blessings in this life— the greatest blessing is the sheer fact of life itself. As Cervantes wrote, "Until death, it is all life"— and we might add that it's all good that we are alive. Let's decide that complaining has taken us as far as it can; it's time to make our peace and affirm the good of this life. 

Martin Buber tells a Hasidic story about a very shy and timid rabbi named Mendel. One day a group of people from a neighboring town came to Rabbi Mendel and said, "We have been told by the great Maggid, the great Hasidic leader, that you are to be our teacher— here is your belt and staff of authority." When Rabbi Mendel heard this, he stepped forward; he put on the belt and took hold of the staff of authority, and suddenly his whole being lit up with spiritual mastery. This humble and shy rabbi had been quietly awaiting the moment when he came into his own authority. For each of us, there is a moment when we too come out from behind our hiding place in life and don the mantle of our own self-worth and self-competence. There is a moment when all the waiting is over, and the gift of ourselves that we are here to share with our world is given in all its fullness, and it is well received. 

A couple once saved their money to take a trip to the beautiful Grand Tetons in Jackson Lake, Wyoming. This couple was looking forward to having a great time exploring the wonders of nature through hiking, boating and fishing. However, when they arrived at the Tetons, they found a heavy downpour of rain. Somewhat disappointed, they spent the first day of their vacation sitting in the lodge. When the rain continued for a second day, the couple's disappointment turned to resentment. The third day of rain brought anger, the fourth brought rage, and the fifth and last day of their stay, with still continuous rain, left the couple in a state of fury. What made matters worse was the peaceful and joyous calm of an elderly man who was also staying at the lodge. Each day this man would sit quietly reading or playing solitaire, epitomizing peace and contentment. Finally, on this last day, the husband yelled at the man, "How can you just sit there being so peaceful when it has rained all week?" The elderly man replied, "When it rains, I let it." 

Walt Whitman, the great American poet, used to sign his name in his letters to his niece with huge letters; the signature was about a half a page long. Was he merely being egotistical in using such a gigantic signature, or was there something else at work in Whitman? Perhaps the huge signature was Whitman staking his claim as a citizen of the universe. In his book of poems, Leaves of Grass, he calls himself "Walt Whitman, a Kosmos." Maybe Whitman is just expressing his inherent oneness with all life. How do we sign our name? Is it very small and apologetic? Perhaps we, like Whitman, need to boldly and fearlessly claim our Divine Entitlement; we too are one with the oneness of all; we too belong here as daughters and sons of this universe. Let's affirm our right position in this world; we are the heirs of a universal Good that is manifesting for each of us, through each of us, now. 

Thoreau said, "Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in." Someone else once said, "Time is that which keeps everything from happening all at once." Our time seems so structured these days that many of us feel that we have less time now than people experienced in the past. Some of us yearn for the days of slow travel over land or sea when there was time for study and reflection. The mid-nineteenth century provided the time for giants such as Darwin, Lyle and Frazier to pursue immense studies to their completion. Perhaps one of the most difficult and challenging concerns in our own age is to make our peace with time, to come to terms with time and make it our ally, not our enemy. Bertrand Russell said, "To realize the unimportance of time is the gate ofwisdom." Perhaps we need to learn how to take time less seriously, to enjoy our time and to let time be. 

A visitor to Niels Bohr's home once accused the great physicist of superstition because he had a horseshoe hanging on the wall. "Do you really believe that that horseshoe will bring you luck?" the visitor taunted. Bohr replied, "Of course not, but I understand it brings you luck whether you believe it or not." We sometimes think that things are secretly working against us. We say, "It's the sunspots" or "The moon or the planets are against me." But the truth is that if we look at our life overall, we realize that many, many times things of which we are not even aware are working for us, sometimes even in spite of ourselves. Perhaps we just need to trust that this life will look after us. Life has brought each of us this far, why not trust that life will bring us our heart's desire. The Good you desire is already on its way to you now.

There's a story about St. Peter asking three people to wait outside the pearly gates until he returned from an important errand. On his return, St. Peter said to the first person, "I'm sorry to have kept you waiting." "No problem," the person responded. "I am so glad to be here; the wait didn't bother me at all." "Okay, there's one small test before you enter," said St. Peter. "Please spell God." "G-O-D," said the person. And the gates swung open. St. Peter went to the next person and again apologized for the delay. The person responded, "No problem; I spent the time reflecting on my life on earth and making my peace with everyone." "Good," said St. Peter. "There is one small test— please spell God." "G-O-D," said the person. And the gates swung open. St. Peter went to the third person who immediately began to complain, "Why have you kept me waiting so long; I have never had to wait so long for anything— I will speak to your superiors about this." "I'm sorry," said St. Peter. "Please forgive me. There is one small test before you enter. Please spell Czechoslovakia." 

A friend of mine worries that things in her life are going so well, something is bound to happen to bring an end to her happiness. Too often we have a subtle pessimism inside that says to us things can't continue to go well— we might as well plan on failure and disillusion. This attitude is based on our fear of disappointment. If something in our life should go wrong, we can always say to ourselves: see, I told you so. Yet our everyday life is really a total act of faith and trust in the order of the universe. Our everyday life is filled with positive expectations. We don't expect to fall off the earth into space— we expect gravity to keep us centered and firm as we move through our days. Likewise when things are going well for us, let's expect them to become even better. 

There's a Hasidic story about a rabbi who was so worried about the state of affairs in the world that he couldn't sleep one night. The rabbi kept tossing and turning and fretting about what was going on. In the middle of the night, the rabbi finally quieted down; he became very still inside, and then he heard the voice of God, Who said, "Rabbi, you need to rest; you go to sleep. I'll stay up and worry about the world." When we get so anxious about how our world is going that we can't sleep at night, we too can become quiet and let go and let God and the universe work things out. We don't have to carry the burden of this life. We can become still inside and let go to a peaceful solution to our worries and our problems. 

We meditate to achieve self-realization, conscious union with God. We meditate as away of learning to surrender ourselves to God. But these are `advanced' notions of meditation. Many of us begin to meditate simply to get our lives together, to help us find solutions to our everyday problems. We need that sense of momentary peace and quiet so that the rest of our day can flow together more smoothly. Many of us began to meditate with little faith in God or anything else. Faith and trust in God come into our minds and hearts as we stay with the process. Finally, the realization of God's Presence comes to us and we know that life has really changed. Sometimes we see it only in small ways; a beautiful sunset or a child's tender smile will suddenly light up a new feeling of joy in our hearts. And then the real magic and wonder of this life dawns on us. We realize, as Alan Watts said, "This earth itself is in deep outer space." And we ourselves are an intimate part of this infinite cosmos. We belong here. We're connected—no longer strangers; we're finally at home. 

Meditation may be defined as 'the art of learning to be still.' In our everyday world of constant activity and movement, sound and sensation, one might question the value or necessity of learning inner stillness and tranquility. But the real purpose of meditation is to discover whether or not there is something beyond or behind this realm of complexities which we call everyday life. The person who has begun to meditate is constantly confronted by the question, "Is it really necessary for me to go through my everyday life as if I am in the midst of an endless battle of opposition, both with myself and the people within my world? Is there not a saner, more creative and harmonious way to live?" And, after some time of meditation practice, the person finally receives his or her answer: "Peace exists within me and I can find peace at any moment, in any situation." Once a person knows this, he is free. 

Peace is a decision we can make right now for ourselves and our day. Let's turn within and let ourselves be at peace; let's allow that deep, abiding peace within each of us to spread throughout our whole being. Let our bodies, our minds and our hearts be at peace; let our thoughts be at peace; let our concerns and cares be infused with peace. Let the power of peace bring each of us clarity and joy. We can release ourselves to this peace; we can trust it to guide and direct our steps now and always. We are grateful for a new feeling of well-being, and we accept this peace for ourselves and for each other this moment.

How do we get our timing right in life? Sometimes we need to be inwardly silent until we hear the next step for us to take. Being silent doesn't just mean not speaking; it means listening deep down inside of ourselves. Often when we are silent, we may not be listening. We may be worrying or planning to worry. Inner listening means being in touch with our intuitive responses to life. There's a kind of flow and synchronicity to things when we are inwardly still and open. The right person calls us at the right time or we call him or her, or we are guided to send a letter to so-and-so, or we suddenly see a new way of approaching a situation. Our timing becomes clear and appropriate to each moment as we let go of fixed attitudes and adopt an openness based on inner listening and receptivity. We simply relax our mental hold on things, and things have a way of coming together and coming into agreement, easily, without strain and without effort. 

Picasso once said, "When I was a child I drew like Michelangelo. It took me years to learn to draw like a child." Sometimes we give up too soon in life. When one path, or career or relationship seems too difficult, we may want to quit and try something else. Yet if we keep giving up on each thing that seems difficult, we never stay with anything long enough to go beyond the surface. Real learning in life comes when we are willing to pursue things to their depth and discover their inherent meaning and value. An interviewer once said to the great writer, William Faulkner, "Some people say they can't understand your writing even after they read it two or three times. What approach would you suggest for them?" Faulkner replied, "Read it four times." Anything worthwhile in life usually requires time, commitment, patience and persistence. Let's not be in such a hurry to get on with our life that we miss the point of our life itself. We can decide to pursue our journey to its depths and discover the hidden joy at the heart of all things. 

When we receive the results from a medical test, and we are told the results are negative, this is very positive news. It means that we don't have what we were worried we had. Many times in life the absence of distress is a very positive indication. We don't worry about what is working— it is only that which causes us distress or discomfort that brings us the awareness of pain. The reality is that so much of our life does work out very well, that we tend to exaggerate the few areas of problem. When something major does happen, we realize how minor our petty little problems really are. As the Sufis say, "When the house is on fire, the toothache flies out the window." When there is a serious concern, our other problems vanish. Why wait until we have a big problem to release the little ones? Right now we can give up our overconcern and let ourselves enjoy all of the areas of our life that are working. 

I recently had to return some items that I had purchased from one of those big chain department stores. I was dreading some sort of confrontation over the returned items. I kept fingering my receipt as I walked into the store, gearing myself up for a negative encounter. As I walked up to the return item counter, a friend I hadn't seen for a long time came running up to me with a smile and joyous handshake. It turns out that she was an employee of this store. I was so happy to see her that I forgot my anxiety completely. I walked up to the counter, gave the clerk my receipt and the returned items, and the exchange was quickly and easily accomplished. I walked out of the store in a happy daze. What happened to the expected painful confrontation? It dissolved in the unexpected joy of seeing my friend. Often in our life, something intervenes in the midst of what we think is going to be an unpleasant experience. The anticipated discord dissolves into harmony and peace, and we are left with a dazed happiness. Break through to joy now. 

When we worry, we are secretly afraid that we are going to lose out on something. Our thought says to us, "If such and such happens, I will lose, or I will fail." We fret and worry about the future, which isn't here yet; we fret and worry about the past, which is already gone. At some point we come to see that worry doesn't change anything. What it does do is drain us of the energy we need to break through our problem to a solution. When we have a problem, in the moment we deal with that problem successfully, there is great peace of mind. Our thought quits chasing after itself; we are calm and serene. The way to find peace of mind is to stay with our problem to its solution, giving all our energy and attention, not to worrying about the problem, but to discovering our way to a solution. 

We all need help at times. Two businessmen found themselves struggling in the water after a shipwreck. One man asked the other, "Herman, can you float alone?" Herman replied, "I'm drowning, and you're talking business!" Sometimes we feel like we're drowning, and everyone around us is talking business as usual. We may need to reach out and ask someone for help. Sometimes we feel as if we are boxed into a corner, and we can't see any way out for ourselves— there seems to be no solution to our problem. Yet when we are willing to share the burden of our problem with another, many times we become open for a solution to dawn in our hearts. It may be humbling to have to ask for help, but none of us is in this life all by ourselves, and there comes a point when we have to trust others to help us when we can't find a solution on our own. Let's not be afraid to ask this universe to help us when we need it.