Then one day we suddenly have a need to improve our spiritual self.

We start out in our Mothers body growing from a tiny piece of flesh waiting to being born in what will be our vehicle for this life. We grow into childhood, teenage years, adulthood, old age, and eventually we die, unless our life is cut short by an accident or other cause. It is an automatic process, and whether we want it to happen or not, whether we appreciate it happening, or hate the fact we get older, it happens. This is our physical body as it conforms to the concept of time, and the wear and tear we place on our physical self.

Our non-physical self, no matter what you choose to call it, and please call it whatever you are comfortable calling this part of you, does not have a need to change with the years. Almost all of us have certain behaviors we use that we learned and used as toddlers. If a behavior works, why bother changing it? So we do not change certain behaviors because they have worked – more or less – since we were toddlers.

Then comes a day when for some nagging yet vague reason, we start out on our journey of  spiritual growth. We want to become more than we are. At first with the help of books and copying successful behaviors, we find we are very successful. In fact, we find it amazing how much easier life has become since we started out on our path.

We are not satisfied of course, because it has been pretty easy up until this moment. If it is this easy getting here, why stop now? That is how I felt, and I bet this is how you feel if you want to grow even more. Next, we go out and find books, articles, and people who use all these jumbled words I mentioned in part one. We try our best at doing what we understand those words and phrases to mean, but nothing really happens.

We do not seem to be making progress, and our development, growth, path, whatever you choose to call it, grinds to a halt. “What in the heck are they talking about and why isn’t it working for me?”, you find yourself asking in your head, in a hundred different ways.

If you want to further personal growth, you can not grow much further only reading books, listening to someone talk, or sitting at your computer. You may not be able to grow because of the life style you have, or the career you are in. You may not be able to grow because of how you choose to live your life. You may not be ready to hear the truth. Truth and direction does not arrive until you are ready.

If you want to change and grow beyond where you are now, it is not easy. Here is a start of what you need to do. You must to develop real and true empathy and compassion for all people. Step out of the center of the circle, and know there is no circle with you in the center.

Find a way to care for people around you. Help them in and with their struggles, but let them do the struggling. Know you are in each and every person, and they are in you. You need to drop, “me” from your thinking and your speech. Learn, know, and believe that you are part of everything and everything is part of you.

Until you can do these things, you may as well go back to what you were doing before you came to the spot on the path you are now on. There is no other way of finding and understanding what all those words and ideas mean otherwise.

This is why a few people have found their way, while so many remain stuck. This is how your new spiritual growth, path, journey, whatever you choose to name it will progress. None of us may ever make it as far as we want to go along our path, though we all need to keep growing.  My best to you on your path.