Hi all,

I am on the verge of another journey-this one outward involving lots of travel. But, as usual, the journey is also inward. My companion is Deepak Chopra's The  Path to Love. This book is so full of widsom and insight into loving of self. It has helped me see many things clearly about why certain things happen in relationships and how to overcome problems of getting along with others and with myself.

This passage struck me deeply:

"All of us are imprinted one of two ways: either the world is dangerous with moments of safety, or the world is safe with moments of danger."

Having grown up with a childhood of the later, I have grosely misunderstood the former. Perhaps this accounts for moments when I feel unexplained grief deep inside just seeing a child with their mother...one person lashing out at another...being misunderstood by someone and misunderstanding them also. I seek less to challenge people than I did, knowing this, and seek more to understand them and the challenges they already face...to nurture is the noblest cause...

For those of us who grew up in a safe world with moments of danger, the learning curve is steep in relating to those who grew up in a dangerous world. It explains, perhaps, the differenc between optimists and pessimists, romanticists and classicist, flow and control, etc. But just knowing of these differences helps a great deal in the path towards compassion and understanding.

One last tidbit of wisdom from this great book: "Reactions result in a closed set of options; awareness results in an open set of options."

As you travel through this life, I wish you the presence of awareness and the maximum possibility of options.

Be well on your path to understanding, love and tranquility, and have a peaceful journey.

paul