Discovering What We Have Been Given

You have everything. You really do. You have this life. Begin with that. I know that some people are cynical. You might think you are a particularly difficult case. A lot of the things we tell ourselves are the things we have been told by other people: “Don’t do that.  If you do, this or that will happen.” Then you think you are a difficult case. Who told you that? Doesn’t breath come into you? Don’t you have a heart? Aren’t you alive? Just on the merit of these three things alone, you are not a difficult case. That makes you a human being, just like me, just like anyone else.

Look at an ant. An ant should be cynical. Have you seen an ant try to go through grass? It has to crawl up and down. Danger is everywhere. It would have a right to be cynical, but it isn't. With its little legs, it marches off. And it marches and marches. It has a focus in life.

Start to see, to appreciate. I’m not trying to tell you that everything is beautiful. But see and experience the beauty for yourself. Allow—give yourself the chance to accept that in your life.

It’s like a door, and behind it, incredible magic has been happening. We say, “I don’t know what’s behind this door and, therefore, I’m not going to open it.” And then we look at the room we’re in and it’s not that great. I say, “Open the door. Go! I’ll give you the key, but you must open the door.”

When you feel joy, don't you want to be there all the time? It’s not a wish. Just wishing won’t work. Something has to happen. We have to understand, “This is where I want to be,” and know that, not just say, “I don’t want to be miserable.” Just saying, “I don’t want to be miserable” does not automatically put us in a good place. This is the law of nature. If I say, “I don’t want to be here,” what good does that do? But if I realize where I want to be, then it will pull me there.

There is a place within you that brings you joy. You have to trust yourself just as much as I trust you. And you have to see the possibility in your own self just as much as I see the possibility in you. Maybe for the first time say, “I’m not going to sit there all my life saying where I don’t want to be. I’m going to clarify for myself where I do want to be.” That’s when I can help you.

If you go to the airline counter and say, “I don’t want to be here,” how are they going to help you? I am like that airline. If you say, “Take me to the place where I can be in peace, where I can be in joy,” then I can tell you, “This way. Which seat would you like?”

We have life. That’s the biggest passport. This breath is marching every moment. Breath doesn’t assume anything. Every moment it comes. Very precise. Then it goes, and it comes again. It doesn’t assume: “I’ve been there for a long time. You’ll be okay if I don’t come for 45 minutes.” It comes every moment, every second.

We have mercy in our life, so many blessings, so much love. It’s a matter of uncovering, discovering all the things we have been given.

A lot of people are fascinated by misery and just can’t leave it. They complain about everything—about God, the weather, everything. Sometimes there are thunderstorms or it’s hot. That’s the joy of being here. You can’t say, “No thunderstorms, please. No heat, please. No this or that, please.”

We have to be strong in this world. To be safe, to be conscious, to be real in this life comes from inside. I can’t fix the political system. What I can do is help people get in touch with their heart. I go around the world telling people they can have peace in their life. I started helping people when I was very young, and this is what I’ve been doing all my life. The dream was to be able to go from place to place, village to village—and that is becoming a reality.

Every day is new. And that’s wonderful. Enjoy your life, every moment. That’s how it should be. Don’t lose the shield of hope. Learn how to hold onto it. You want that hope.

Sadness will always be there; sadness doesn’t go away. All the sadness that you will ever feel is within you. And all the love that you will ever feel is within you. It just depends which door you want to open.

You have everything. Let me help you discover all those things again, how to hold onto the shield of hope. The world has pushed it away. But every day we can have hope. We can learn to smile again. We don’t have to be sad. I can’t tell anybody that their business will be better. But I know one thing: a centered person is what the whole world is looking for, because that’s what we all need. So, just enjoy the ride.