Learning my life’s lessons, with much openness and vulnerability, has sometimes yielded only meager results for me in my limited understanding. At times, it would be so easy to shave my head and join a monastery, as I have lead with my open heart to a path that often included some measure of pain in the lesson.

It would be so easy to say “never again” to the arrows that have pierced me. So easy for me to put on the armor of distrust and the shield of wariness so I would prevent myself from emotional harm.

We cry “why” when it happens to us, not realizing the gentle, guiding hands of our guides and angels, and our own higher Self really are showing us the eloquent way to freedom from our suffering ignorance. I, at times, did not understand my higher nature’s path.

The root of my knowledge lies not in my head, but rather in the same thing that wounds me: my heart. For only with openness can I truly grow, and as Kahlil Gibran said in The Prophet:

“For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.

“Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,
“So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.”

I know that my life’s lessons are not so much ones to be overcome as they are to be understood. That it is not the goal that I seek, but the fulfillment of the moment. It offers me the opportunity to develop my character and to realize my true nature.

The pruning creates the possibility of such growth in love, we cannot even imagine it.

Fraught with the staccato moments of pain as my path is, it is the very openness of my heart that defines me as who I choose to be. The suffering we feel brings due evolution of our consciousness. And I choose my open heart.

What do you choose for yourself?

Given in love and in service,
Richard Jelusich, Ph.D.

Dr. J's Books

Eye of the Lotus by Dr. Jelusich

Eye of the Lotus: Psychology of the Chakras published in 2004, discusses dominant chakras and how they affect our perceptions of reality.

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I Can Relate

I Can Relate: How we intuitively choose the people in our lives is about how and why we take intuitive relationships to each other, along with 27 case histories.

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Life's Lessons

Lightnews - Inspirational Writings from Dr. Jelusich

Dr. J's Books

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