How to Skip to the Fun Part of Enlightenment

The Universe sent me a note the other day.

Here’s what it said:

For millenniums, Amy, the path to enlightenment has been made up of many steps. Most commonly, it begins with festering misunderstandings that lead to pain, the pain then leads to growth, growth leads to clarity, clarity leads to fun, fun leads to joy, and joy leads to true illumination.

May I recommend skipping to the fun part?

Love you forever, Amy –

The Universe

Do you get it?

This means all the misunderstandings, painful times, moments of sheer terror or feeling “stuck” or thinking you’re wasting your time, you’re spinning your wheels and will most definitely never get “there”, are a necessary part of the plan.

The pain kicks the whole process into motion. The pain kicks growth into gear, and  growth eventually trips the Enlightenment switch.

This is where most of us get stuck. We fight against the pain and refuse to feel it, so we don’t grow organically.

We curse the Universe and ourselves for not doing things Right, for not already being at Enlightenment (as if there’s a there, there).

And because we’re so tuned in on Right and Wrong and black and white, we stay constricted and shut down and grasping hard and tight. And shut down, constricted, clutching is the opposite of where we need to be in order to grow.

Growth requires a letting go.  Growth doesn’t just like a letting go, it requires it. There must be some degree of turning things over and trusting in order for growth to happen.

But we’re scared to let go and feel the pain and trust the process so we feel like we’re stuck, stuck, stuck.  Constricting and shirking the pain à no growth à more pain à still no growth.

What to do instead

When you feel like you’re in the wrong life or you’ve made some awful mistake or you just aren’t good enough, thank it.

Thank those feelings of pain because their sole purpose is to help you grow. You don’t grow when you’re sitting there mindlessly eating popcorn and watching The Real Housewives of wherever. You grow through pain.

So thank it, and remember that this is just as important a step toward Enlightenment as joy and growth and clarity. It’s sometimes less fun, but no less important.

And then let go. Allow the pain to work its magic and allow the growth to start. When you do that, you’re in the fun part of the equation before you know it.

That’s how you take the Universe’s advice and skip to the fun part.

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