The more I grow on this spiritual journey, the more I realize that it is the little challenges in our everyday life and those we come into contact with on a daily basis that offer us the best opportunities for spiritual growth. When we begin to look at the things and people that we previously took for granted, our simplest actions and responses can become infused with a whole new perspective and situations that would have previously aggravated us now offer us the potential to look at them in a new light and we respond to the situation with clarity as opposed to reacting to it from an egoic perspective.

We all get caught up in the 'wishing' to do more or fulfil some great purpose on this spiritual journey and I think that's where we miss the mark - the opportunity for spiritual growth is right in front of our face but I do think we have to try to do the little things with mindfulness and everything else will fall into place. It's hard to stay mindful constantly but I guess practicing awareness is the key and not cutting ourselves up when we forget.

People commonly think of themselves as two things: their physical self and their spiritual self; and that there must somehow be a "shift" from the physical into the spiritual in order to experience their spiritual self.

While I think this is true from a certain perspective (people do "shift"), this duality suggests a separation between the physical and the spiritual that I have come to believe does not exist. Rather, our physical selves are projections of our spiritual self into the physical realm.

Consequently, the belief that each person has a physical and a spiritual component makes the transition into the spiritual experience harder than it needs to be.

While our efforts to be happy, to live in the moment, and be appreciative, gain various levels of success, at different times of our life, all that is required is to "be". I gleaned that from the Abraham-Hicks books, and it's a nice thought.