Before you start reading this text, I would like to ask you to close your eyes and, for a few moments, contemplate upon this simple sentence: Life is a rose, a beautiful, scented flower with its thorns.

All of us only want to be joyful. Happy. Loved, and accepted. And everything we do, we do out of these basic human needs.

Too often do we try to satisfy these needs and understand this magic called (our) life through our mind, and our mind only. While counting, looking and over looking- rather analyzing what’s present, we are often only hoping to find a link between the life we have/had on our mind and reality. It’s this very moment on one side, compared to the expectations we had about it on another. And, as we are thoroughly going through our “illusional mind check list”, trying to ensure our happiness by seeing how much is accomplished, we are examining: Does this life fits me? How do present circumstances serve me? Did I expected any/some/all of these? Is this pleasant or unpleasant? Is it good, or is it threatening?

If we manage to answer some of these questions and give our life a sense of prediction that could, for a very short period of time, sooth us and provide us with the false sense of control….

While using our mind to understand something much greater than our mind, we end up making judgements and, perhaps, not liking what we see… and, little by little… flawed observation by flawed observation… “going with the flow” starts to seem like one big, fat joke, as silent frustration creeps in, leaving us dissatisfied, tired, empty…

We look at (our) life, and, not liking what we see, we become frustrated. If we, at that point, turn outward and think that frustration we feel is nothing but a consequence of what we see, we might as well start to feel helpless and, therefore, even more frustrated. In this vicious circle, our life might become our worst enemy, as accumulated frustration turns into anger, and we find ourselves behaving unpleasant, resentful, or even aggressive.

As we continue to navigate this life filled with challenges, it seems that joy, we so desperately wanted in the first place, is drifting away further and further, becoming yet another dream we’ll might never get to live…

Too often do we overlook all these processes, and become completely reluctant to see that we, and only we, create our own misery.

The truth is and the truth, as always, might set us free:

Frustration arises from the mind. It’s born from the negativity of the mind, like a screaming child of our unsatisfied expectations and goals “we failed to reach”. It’s set (who knows when- in this lifetime, or in another) in the mind, by the mind, and under the influence of our important others.

Our frustration is not coming from what’s going on. It’s simple as that.

Our frustration is coming from the way we see and receive what’s going on. We are the ones creating frustration for ourselves when thinking that person, that situation, or life- in general, needs to be how we pictured it in our mind. We created a mind game, a whole simulated reality in our head… wrote the scenario, attached specific roles- and, now, after all these efforts, what we see cannot please us. We find that what’s really going on doesn’t have a lot in common with the movie we created, and kept playing over and over in our head.

We reject what life has in stock for us, while trying to grasp the illusion we created in our mind…

When recognizing the discrepancy between the reality and our expectations, we have a choice to make- a path to choose.

In one reality, we become frustrated and angry, feel lost or even turn to depression. We think life betrayed us. The very Source turned his back on us, making us suffer. Toxic thoughts lead to toxic behavioral patterns, so our words and our deeds can become very powerful weapons that hurt the ones who failed to satisfy our expectations. And, most the time, the ones that end up being hurt, are the one who are closest to us. But, the perpetrator is also the victim. The one hurting others and accumulating bad karma is the one who’s primarily hurting himself and, therefore, suffering the most.

When frustrated, it’s hard for us too keep the gratitude going. We become so fixed on what’s not present, that we’re not able to see a single good thing that is present- even if that’s only the fact that we are alive. The gift of being present here, now. At this point of time, on this earth. Earth is our purgatory. It’s much easier for us to cleanse and release whatever we need here, than in the other realms. Process there takes much more time. All of us came here with a great purpose, and, therefore, every single breath, every single moment we get here- it’s a very precious gift. If we cannot think of any single thing we can be grateful for, we are loosing the most important picture out of our sight: We have ourselves. We have our life. Having that, we have it all. Nina Simone sings about the very same wisdom in her song „Ain’t got no“…

If we judge our life, we are rejecting it. And, what’s rejected- is not respected.

When judging, we lack (self) love.

Love is the opposite of judgement. Love doesn’t know anything about judgement. It exists, it grows no matter what. It flourishes in pure acceptance. If I accept something/someone fully, I embrace the whole package- the „good“, and the „bad“; what „I like“ and what „I don’t like“.

In another reality, we choose a more graceful path. We gently observe what’s going on, what’s present, and simply acknowledge the discrepancy between our expectations and the reality we get to witness. At that point, we decide to adapt to the circumstances using new, creative ways of responding. We free ourselves from our past, let go our unfulfilled expectations, and surrender to the life itself. Instead of fighting, we decide to go with the flow, and that’s how we develop our wisdom- that’s how we grow.

Our intelligence is greatly defined by the quality of our response on what’s going on. If we manage to acknowledge that, we’ll experience an enormous shift in our perspective, and that is:

The source of our frustration might be the greatest gift we could get.

If we received that gift, we are invited to open it.

And the moment we decide to open it- we start to learn.

The sender of the gift is so considerate and he loves us so much, that he wants us to grow. His intentions are pure, and his deeds are motivated by love.

We came here for a reason, but we are always in danger to turn to inertia and, while enjoying being comfort, forget all about that. So, if there weren’t challenges, if there weren’t discrepancies, and unsatisfied desires- there weren’t be a push, that will motivate us to go in the direction we chose before we came here. We had chosen to witness all the hurdles, cause we knew it will enrich us and don’t let us to settle down where we at, but keep us going in the right direction.

It seems to me that the greatest attainment of all might be simply keeping a smile on our faces and remain joyful, devoted and courageous, while walking our path of thorns.

We didn’t come here to witness something convenient, comfortable and easy.

We’re on a adventurous journey of self discovery- on a journey, with no return.

And that journey, my friends, is called life.