Being aware

QUESTION: Masters, for quite some time now I have been working on myself, in spiritual and emotional sense. But it’s rather hard. I know that joy and happiness and well-being are natural to us and every time we fall sad or unhappy it feels bad to us. And I have tried to fight everything and just allow myself to feel the joy and love and acceptance but recently it became hard, all these negative beliefs and emotions are hard to bear and I end up feeling empty, not able to feel anything, what can I do? ~Awen, Croatia

ANSWER: The way humans learn lessons is by experiencing the opposite of perfection and unconditional love. If you only knew joy, love, and acceptance, you would not be able to learn anything about this life. The first premise of learning is that the soul has freedom of choice to decide what it wants to do, feel, and experience.

When you begin to feel sad or unhappy, rejoice that you are facing another life lesson that, once learned, you will understand and then not have to go through again. The emotions are the outward indicator. Ask yourself why you feel the way you do to get to the lesson underneath. Most people get so bummed out by the sadness that they sink into the negativity instead of understanding and banishing the lesson.

A lesson in itself is acknowledging sadness and choosing to turn it into happiness. You are a very powerful soul and can create any situation you choose. Get up each day and see all the things you have to be thankful for, a roof over your head, food to eat, clothes to wear. Look for things that make you happy. Laugh every chance you get. Laugh at yourself for being a sourpuss. Laugh at yourself for taking life so seriously when you have the ability to change it at will.

Every time you perceive a negative thought, make a game out of finding the opposite positive idea and choose to work on bringing it into your day. As you chase away the negative beliefs and emotions, fill yourself with the remembrance of your most happy, loving, cherished emotions. Go inside and bring out your self-love to fill any voids. Don’t give negativity a chance to take hold; replace it with positivity.