Everyone suffers mechanically, but no one suffers consciously. Suffering consciously opens us directly into the light within.

Suffering has been a main theme in my life. To avoid a complete meltdown, I turned to everyday chores to keep me on a somewhat even keel.

Dusting, tidying up, keeping my files in order, etc. gave me breathers from the sorrow that was facing me.

I cried as I dusted but dust I did. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. It’s all dust at some point, albeit cosmic.

I woke this morning from a bad dream. There was a party at someone’s house but I didn’t want to go. I went out for a walk and when I came home my house had been ransacked. Neighbors saw what happened. Oddly enough, the top floor was locked and I explained that belonged to my husband. Everything else was in disarray. I am not sure what that means, but this morning I feel emotionally defeated. Got the January blahs.

The world is being overrun by evil clothed in the bodies of Far Right extremists. Here in America, the far right in our government want to reduce aid to Ukraine and do many other things to weaken our country. So far, our Justice Department has yet to indict Donald Trump.

Jesus told us plainly that the Kingdom of Heaven is not here. Others have seen that the world is not a good place and it is on the way to extinction. What can we do at this point?

We can stop suffering mechanically! There is another choice and that is to suffer consciously. Few know how to do this because it is an esoteric gem hidden from the masses. “Don’t cast your pearls before swine.”

Sit alone and just breathe in and out for a few minutes. Do nothing but that. That kind of consciousness can change everything in your inner life. It may not change the outer, but it does change the inner.

For just a moment, be like a little child listening to its father.

That changes the world for you one breath at a time.

Vicki Woodyard