As with any search for the Meaning in anything, it is sometimes easiest to start with what it does NOT mean. In the case of these Addiction-posts, that is pretty easy …

These posts are NOT about encouraging you to be “a better person” … These posts are NOT about persuading you to live a certain way … These posts are NOT about inspiring you to focus on your physical body or your material life at the expense of your spirit … And these posts are NOT about giving you the tools to become “good enough” to “someday attain Enlightenment”.

These posts don’t need to do those things, because YOU ARE ALREADY MORE THAN PERFECT ENOUGH TO ENLIVEN WHO YOU ALREADY ARE.

… because THAT it what these posts are actually about — not trying to change you into someone you aren’t, but simply illuminating a Path back to the brilliant, Kind, selfless Being you already are.

And yes, there are indeed many Paths to this glorious summit of Self-re-Awakening. In fact, there is at least one Path thereto for every sentient being on the face of the Earth. Seven billion uniquely different Paths to Peace …

Each of you has a perfect Path to Peace that only you know and that only you can tread … No one else can tell you how to walk it and no one else can walk it for you.

That having been said, there ARE certain choices that you can make that will make it easier to Find your Path — and one of those choices involves the content of these posts: choosing to identify and then choosing to release the addictive behaviors that are keeping you mired in doubt and fear and longing.

And, if you choose to alter your current course by replacing your own unique set of addictions with alternatives that are Healthy and Kind, there are then some general “signposts” that will help each of you “stay on track” — that will allow each of you to clearly know whether you are truly awakening to your True Self …

and some of these internal signposts are:

… choosing to flow with whatever IS, as opposed to “pushing the river” to force something to happen that isn’t,

… lots & lots of smiling, mingled with frequent laughter,

… feeling deeply & consciously interconnected with Nature, especially the “strangers” that you encounter every day,

… feeling an overflowing sense of Gratitude for your life,

… experiencing an enhanced ability to think creatively (“out of the box”) and act unconventionally,

… a loss of worry accompanied by an increase in joyful anticipation,

… a loss of anger accompanied by an increase in acceptance & forgiveness,

… a gentle refusal to criticize, condemn or analyze the actions of others,

… a gentle refusal to criticize, condemn or analyze the choices of yourself,

… a loss of interest in judging others (or the weather or your life or your self) as “bad”,

… gaining the priceless ability to LOVE without wanting or expecting anything in return.

Regardless of how your individual Path to Peace looks or where it leads you, you will be able to recognize it by the presence of these characteristics (and others like them) while you walk it …

You will know that you are on the Right Path because you will literally feel your True Self begin to boom forth in everything you think & feel & do.

In conclusion, there is a glorious Light within each of you, my Friends. It is a Light that we ALL carry inside of us — all of the time, and this regardless of whether we are choosing to gently beam it to others or not. If we continue to soak in the fears and desires of the ego-self; if we continue to focus primarily on actions that benefit ourselves as opposed to others, that is certainly OK. There really is nothing wrong with that choice …

AND, there is an alternative available to you in every moment of your lives, for the rest of your lives.

It is the alternative that sets personal fears and individual hopes & selfish desires aside in order to actively Care for others.

This is the choice that shines forth who you truly Are …

This is the choice that brings Joy to others, and thereby real Peace to yourself.

You are brilliant Beings, my Friends …

remember that today, and let yourSelf shine!!!