Do I have to learn all my lessons?

QUESTION: Masters, a numerology study revealed that my life path was to learn how to care for myself as much as I care for others. As I look at my life at present, my priorities are still being superseded by the needs and wants of others – should I succumb to my true desires to fully learn this lesson? Do I have to learn this lesson for my own spiritual growth? Or can I leave this and still grow properly spiritually? ~Andrew, South Africa

ANSWER: Nothing is right or wrong. The way you approach your life is up to you. The lessons and the journey are different for each person, but remember, the journey is yours alone. No one else is having the same life lessons as you. No one can determine how you complete, or fail to complete, what you had chosen for this voyage. You all have total freedom of choice. The primary lesson all souls embark upon is understanding that they do have freedom to choose how they are going to live their life.

When you give your life up for others by always assenting to their demands, you are saying that their life is more important than your life, their lessons more significant than yours. You want others to like you, and you have convinced yourself that will not happen unless you do exactly what they ask of you. It is fine to live that way, but you are not using your freedom of choice so you are not learning the lesson you chose about responsibility for your own growth.

Someone can control you only to the extent to which you allow it. If you want to take back your power to learn your lessons, you must learn to say no. You find it difficult to say no because you do not love yourself; that is why you feel you must have the love of others.

Spiritual growth is defined by how many of the lessons you came to learn have been completed. It is also about how you have accepted and been able to use your core essence of unconditional love, manifestation, and creation. Decide what you want to accomplish in this life: being a servant for others, or learning about yourself and growing spiritually. They are mutually exclusive. Whatever you don’t do in this lifetime you can always come back and do again in your next life.