In reality, everyone is striving to be happy.

The difference between everyone and the Realized Souls is that the Realized Souls have learned that we can be happy when we are in harmony and nurturing our Whole Self,                                                                                                                                        when we include all life.

The Royal Path allows us to take an incarnation which comes with desires, ideas, and beliefs in the limited. But we need to accept the responsibility of being created in the image of God. The desire of the Soul is to live in the nature of the pure Om Satyam. We then make our desires harmonious, so that our desires for the Physical do not cause us conflict in the Astral or Causal. Our desire for freedom cannot be at the cost of someone else’s freedom.

The Royal Path allows us the fulfillment of activities and desires of the Physical, Astral or senses, Causal or mental, of the Soul or pure Satyam experience of love, of the Holy Spirit, the Christ/Krishna Consciousness, and the God Consciousness. The Royal Path includes doing activities of a Wholistic life. Most of humanity is just trying to get a few things that are usually limited to the Physical, which they believe will make them happy. They spend their lifetime in trying to accomplish or attain a few desires or beliefs, and they renounce or exclude most of life. Many reach middle age and begin the process of dying, because they have lost hope of fulfilling their desires. Yet most people want to live in happiness; they wanted to experience joy, harmony, and love. When their ideas and beliefs of ever attaining these goals are shattered, hope is lost, then they begin to lose their enthusiasm of life, and their will to live.

Everyone is seeking happiness. The Holy Ones have found the secret of happiness. They are inclusive of life on the Open Path. The Open Path is about the open heart and open mind. It is about going beyond our self-centered ideas or beliefs. Do not confuse the Open Path with the ideas of the 1960s, where it was, “I’m okay, you are okay, everything is okay.” This isn’t harmonious. Our desires of the first and second chakras have to be in harmony with the third, fourth, and fifth chakra. When we are out of harmony, we may not be able to accomplish some of our duty or dharma. When we can recognize that the desire is out of harmony with other desires, we can restructure our desires into a way that is harmonious. It isn’t that we drop the desires, forget about them, or renounce them, but we restructure them into a healthy way of doing things. This is part of the third chakra (Causal) study of life. It is part of being in harmony with Om Shivam.

There is almost an infinite amount of knowledge we can learn on the inner life, just as there is in the outer life. The Open Path allows us to study, practice, and live in a manner that is beneficial and uplifting to our self, and to those around us. We then become an inspiration to those around us who observe our life or get to know us. They will feel the Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram vibration, and may ask us how and why we are so happy. We can then tell them that we like happiness more than suffering, and that to feel that joy, we identify with the nature of our Soul. Part of the spiritual practices is touching and perfecting the outer life also. We study and pay attention, and we get to know our self.

We have to work with and harmonize our desires and goals. We make minor adjustments on our way to our nature. We have to choose how we will spend our time. Sometimes we may want to spend time with the family, and other times we may want to spend time writing poetry, meditating, walking the dog, or listening to music. It is about finding the delight and the harmony in our life. Finding time for the activity is part of the harmonization of our life.

There are desires seeking fulfillment at each chakra, and they are legitimate desires. Even God in the formless is not completely desireless, for God manifested a creation. We have to understand the legitimacy of desires, and make them a harmonious part of our life. Not only do our desires have to be a harmonious part of our life, but also in harmony with society, the international community, and the angels and devas.

Desires are legitimate. Our life is legitimate. The Open Path is about having Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram being the standard of how we want to live our life. The harmony of our life and all the fulfillment at each chakra must be our willful choice. It takes the willingness to use the standard of. “Am I feeling Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram?” We do whatever we need to do to make the connection with our Wholistic Self. Then we go back to fulfilling our desires with the bliss and enjoyment of our Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram nature. This is truly how the Royal Path turns into the Tantric Path, becomes the Open Path, and becomes our life. It will become natural to take a deep diaphragmatic breath because you want more vitality. It will become natural to harmonize with Om because you want to feel Wholistic. It will feel natural to go beyond self-centered desires because you know it becomes more enjoyable when others are included in your life. It becomes natural to experience the Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram that is our nature.

In the retreat poem I talk about hearing the voices of angels singing. At any given time when we calm the mind, breath, and body, we can hear the Astral sounds. Many people can see lights and colors in meditation. These are the lights and colors of the Astral realm. If we calm down more, we can hear the Astral sounds. We can actually hear the angels and devas singing. Another poem talks about the saints dancing on the shore. This is symbolic of the folks that realize their Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram nature and are actually enjoying and sharing that vibration while walking the earth and going about their daily business. Most people are aware of the major prophets and avatars like Christ, Buddha, Krishna, Mahavira, Paramahansa Yogananda, and Sri Yukteswar, but at any given time, one avatar out of ten on the planet will be visible. The other nine are going about their daily life without being recognized. They may be buying groceries, or selling groceries. They may be the person cleaning the church that people attend. They may be a government official. They may be anyone in everyday life. Nine-tenths of the avatars on the planet are invisible to the public. Their role is to support the human community, as opposed to the avatars that are teachers. As teachers, they give talks and teach the rules and deliver the message. But as with all communities, teaching is only one small part of the whole community.

On the Open Path, we look for God, we look for Divinity. If you don’t feel like you have a personal relationship with God, then look for the love. Everyone wants to feel and experience love, so we can look for it in all situations. Everyone wants to feel peace, harmony, and connectedness with life. That is the Om Shivam, the Christ/Krishna Consciousness. Everyone wants to feel happiness, joy, and beauty. That is Om Sundaram. We can make our spiritual practices and life simple by looking for beauty, harmony, and Love/Satyam.

We are on the Open Path when we accept the responsibility that we are created in the image of God. It is our responsibility to identify with our Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram nature. There is another poem that says I would like to see you naked beneath all your gowns. I had the experience where Divine Mother appeared with all different gowns, or different forms. Still, I recognized it was Her behind all the gowns. Even though I knew it was God behind all the gowns, still I said. “I want to see you beyond this form, and without that activity.” By looking for both the manifested and unmanifested, we are on the Open Path.

Wanting to experience Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram, we are on the Open Path.

Most people, especially in the beginning, have a struggle with the discipline to do spiritual practices. If they would understand that happiness, love, and joy is the goal of all spiritual practices, it then becomes just a matter of proficiency. Pay attention to which practices or mantras work best for you. If we do, “I am Om Satyam. I am Om. I am Om Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram,” then we can begin to feel the appreciation, harmony, and joy. It then becomes about proficiency and skill in our attainment of this experience.

At this Summer retreat, we have had the chant CD of Om playing. This is the background noise that our subconscious mind can work on, instead of worldly topics or activities. The purpose of this is to give you a more wholistic retreat with less distractions and mental leaks. Being up here on Strawberry Mountain isn’t what brings the peace and energy. It is what we do up here that brings the peace and energy. We can also have the peace and energy down in the city, if we make the effort.

The retreat comes once a year, and lasts for a few days, which allows us to leave behind our responsibilities and duties to come up here, and focus on the Divine. Being up here in a special environment is not what will give us peace and a good retreat. It is knowing about the Open Path, knowing that we are created in the image of God, knowing that life itself is created in the image of God, and if we identify with that, Wholistically, we will feel and experience the Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram, the unlimited potential of the Soul. It doesn’t take enlightenment or realization to feel Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram. Enlightenment or Realization are just terms for someone who experiences their nature of Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram at all times.

I have pursued Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram my whole life. My early poetry is about experiences within the idea of separateness. I was writing to my Beloved. I was praying to my Beloved. I was spending time enjoying and appreciating my Beloved. There is very little of my poetry that is about the oneness, because if it is about the oneness, there is nothing to say, there is just the experience of the pure state of transcendence or Satyam. Even this year’s retreat poem is about the separateness, the being in love with the other, the Shiva and Shakti ever in union. We have to understand that the retreat isn’t about being up here in the mountains. It is about being in our spiritual awakening, wanting to experience Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram, our true nature.

All needs of the lower ego exist because we believe we need something external so we can be happy, have love, have power, and have security. The lower ego is about possessing, owning, getting what the lower ego believes it needs. If we understand the nature of our needs, then it becomes easier to say, “If I want to be happy, I just need to identify with my Om Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram nature.” It is so much simpler than trying to create God in our image, or trying to control the environment or other people so our needs are met. This wholistic view is more enjoyable and educational, rather than excluding the rest of life because it doesn’t fit into our image of what we believe we need to be happy. When we define our goal as the desire to want to feel more love, to feel more Satyam, our happiness becomes simpler to attain. Then we say, “I am Om Satyam.” We make this the object of our focus. We begin to affirm our nature until we feel the connection with Om Satyam. Once we feel it, we continue to identify with it. We don’t have to constantly chant, “I am Om Satyam.” Once we feel the Satyam, we just keep that connection with the feeling of Satyam.

To identify with our Wholistic nature doesn’t mean that we stop chopping wood or drawing water, that we stop doing activities. It means that we are identifying with, and feeling, the Satyam while we are chopping wood and drawing water. The material creation is legitimate. We can be in Love and feel the Om Satyam while chopping wood and drawing water. I loved athletics in my youth. I had that blissful, intoxicating Satyam feeling in training, in competing, and in excelling in athletics. I also felt it while dancing. I can feel it with work, with nature, puppies, kittens, and in the forest. I feel it when I see the beauty of people’s Soul radiating out. I see and appreciate the Physical creation. I feel Om Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram when I see these things, I just don’t get caught up in wanting to possess or own things which usually results in the exclusion of the rest of life.

I also love music, but understand that what I love is the poetry of the singers and songwriters. Most songs are about the male/female relationships, the dynamics of being alive, relating, and interacting with others. I also enjoy movies, which are someone’s interpretation of the interaction between human beings. This is the appreciation of the second chakra. The third chakra is that we can appreciate and work towards a more harmonious international community. I try to watch the world news a little each day to see what is happening around the world. I chant out the Sacred mantras, and offer uplifting thoughts while watching the news. I know my thoughts alone will not feed the starving children, but my thoughts may influence others to think about the problem until someone says, “Hey, we need to do something to get aid to this country.” When we do this, our thoughts influence others, and we begin to act as world citizens. When we get a pain in our body, we check to see what is causing it, and our whole body works to get rid of the pain. If we begin to live as world citizens, then we are beginning to rid our Wholistic body of the pain by providing a solution for it. We need to begin to think of others. We need to study life and others, because “others” are truly our larger Self.

The Open Path comes when we want the experience of love, harmony, beauty, and joy that is our nature all the time. The Soul is calling out for the experience of Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram. It is our nature and the nature of God, but we will need to be disciplined in the attainment of our nature.

This is where chanting the Divine vibrations comes in. When we are active, doing our duties and fulfilling our responsibilities, we may be able to chant, or affirm our nature. It doesn’t matter whether we chant audibly or silently, as long as we can focus and concentrate on the Sacred vibrations. The Hrim mantra, means to invoke the indwelling energy, this means to invoke the “I am created in the image of God. I am Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram, and now I am going to identify with that.” When we invoke this mantra, we can feel it vibrating the whole cerebral-spinal system and vibrating the crown. Our goal becomes the experience of Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram. The Hrim mantra opens the sixth center allowing the intuitional knowledge to be available. It allows the experience of the pure Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram. Utilizing this mantra allows us to do activity with clarity, vision, peace, calmness, and helps to attain power for the accomplishment of our goals. When we chant mantras, we are working to identify with them. They help us to focus and rise above the lower ego, rise above the everyday activities.

The Realized Souls are saying this when they say, “Be in the world, but not of the world.” You don’t have to give all your time and attention to most worldly activities. Most activities don’t take much concentration if we learn to do them skillfully. Many people think that they need to give all their attention to their jobs, interactions, or activities, but they are still breathing, so they can still develop the habit of breath awareness, diaphragmatic breathing, and also be aware of their breath during their activities. If you can be aware of your breath while active, you can also incorporate a pranayama technique to recharge, revitalize, and bring in more power. You don’t have to be in your meditation chair to do pranayama. It can be done anywhere, and all you need is breath awareness.

When we are doing the pranayama techniques, we are developing breath awareness. Wanting to experience the harvest of breath awareness, which is the vibration of joy and happiness, we are on the Open Path. And when we have accepted the power and energy that comes with pranayama, we are taking control of the life force, beginning to be a master of our destiny. We do small things like chanting the Hrim mantra, and pranayama. We work to consistently do these things, and if we have a few minutes, we close our eyes and quietly focus on the Om mantra. When we quietly do the Om, we try to attain the peace of at least the alpha state. Everyone knows how revitalizing a little power nap can be. A power nap is when you have reached the alpha state of rest, and are recharged. If you can do that in a power nap, you can also do it in meditation through concentration. The main goal or purpose of this is to have more power and energy all day long. If you are energized, the earthly vibrations will rarely drag you down. Many people like to have background noise during their activities. They do not realize how this background noise can be a negative distraction and energy drain. Our hearing and subconscious are taking it in, integrating it, and sorting it all out. What our mind can’t sort out subconsciously in the moment, it will work on later in the REM state of sleep (dreaming), because it does have to be processed. This all takes time and energy.

By focusing, concentrating, and energizing, we rise above the tamasic noise and worldly vibrations. Instead, we will be hearing the Om in our inner hearing, and will be feeling the vibration of the Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram. Not only are we energizing, we have also shut off the leaks of energy that occur during our daily life. We do this simply by raising our consciousness or attention above the mundane daily activities. We still have to do the activities, but we don’t have to dwell on them.

The Royal Path, and the consistent practice of it, will turn into the Open Path.

The Open Path is when we begin to see Divinity. We begin to see Namaste…I bow to the Divine Light within you. We begin to experience and see God or Satyam everywhere.

The difference between practicing the Royal Path and practicing the Open Path is that the Royal Path takes consistency and discipline in doing our practices. The Open Path is when we want to have the experience of Om Satyam above all else. We become in love with Love. Our Beloved is the Divine Satyam. Before, there were obstacles in our way, and although some may still be there, they are now seen as mysteries, delights, and our Beloved that we are spending time with.

The main indication of being on the Open Path is when our lower ego no longer demands our time and attention. It is still there, but it is transformed. We find our joy, happiness, and love in studying and appreciating life. We realize that the very nature of God is Om Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram, and the very nature of our self is Om Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram, and the nature of everything between our self and God is Om Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram. We no longer have any interest in pursuing self-centered desires or activities. We have learned they are limited, and that the little bit of pleasure attained from the self-centered desires may be pleasurable to begin with, but by the end they bring suffering. It is like the sin of gluttony; you take the pleasurable activity of eating and then overindulge to the point of being sick. Anything within the lower ego will bring us a little bit of pleasure, and then the suffering. Once we have learned this, we will begin giving our time and attention to the universal or higher ego. We do for others, we feel compassion for others, we do what will be beneficial for others, we meditate and share uplifting vibrations for others. We are now taking care of our larger Self, which includes the rest of humanity and life. Whether we are on the inward journey, trying to experience God the absolute without form, or on the outward journey trying to provide for food, clothing, and shelter, there is only God. It is called the Open Path because we have accepted our responsibility to see and appreciate the Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram nature of life.

Mahavira said,

“Those who are ready will learn through understanding;

those who are not will suffer a while longer.”

Learning through understanding means that we pay attention to what helps us experience Om Satyam and continue to do that. We pay attention to the positive feelings, the uplifting, the unlimited. We pay attention and act on how we can keep an open heart. This is learning through understanding.

We can live with an open heart, and when the pain of broken expectations and ideas of exclusiveness come in, we don’t have to close our heart to protect our self. The solution is to change our ideas and beliefs that are preventing us from experiencing Om Satyam. It is a simple question… “How can I always be in Om Satyam?” It won’t always be easy to go beyond the ideas, beliefs and expectations, but it will always be worth the effort that it takes to be in Om Satyam.

The meditation techniques were an immense help to me. They allowed me to take control, at will, to identify with the Sacred vibrations. Before I got the techniques, I had no names or words. I could just feel and experience the vibration, when there were no distractions. I could listen and hear the vibration, but it is difficult to listen when the mind has other interests. Learning the mantras allowed me to harness and channel the mind so I could experience the Divine vibrations at will. I used the mantras to meditate. I used the mantras to chant. I used the mantras to be open and experience Om Satyam. Mostly, I used the mantras to quiet and focus the mind on what I valued the most in life, and what I valued was the experience of Om Satyam, Om Shivam, Om Sundaram, the experience of being in the nature of my Soul.

When I first met Sri Chitrabhanu, I felt the Om Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram nature while in his presence, and I continued to feel for days afterwards when I was no longer in his presence. Then I knew it was possible to live in this nature day and night. I knew I could have this ecstasy in activity and not just in the quietness of meditation. I knew I could have the experience of my Soul while active, working, and interacting. I considered this an initiation. From that time onward, I took the initiative to learn through understanding. I made the effort to work towards constant remembrance and identification with my Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram nature. When that was too subtle and my mind would run away with other thoughts, I would repeat mantras. There were times I had to take some time off for a personal retreat to get back to my nature. When just repeating the mantras in my everyday life would not do it for me, I would remove myself from the struggle for a short while, and refocus and re-identify. Then I would come back and try to maintain an open heart and my Satyam nature amidst all my activities.

With the Royal Path, there may be a few times when you have to temporarily withdraw from your external life, for a day or two to re-establish your practices and disciplines. You make the effort to reconnect, to find the kingdom of God within, and then go out and share while doing your activities. This balance of the inner life and the outer life is something that you practice throughout your days and nights, not just up here in Strawberry at a retreat. If you temporarily lose balance, make the time to reconnect. My full time job was to be in Om Satyam, in love with God, with Life, with Love. I was willing to get by without a lot a material things so I could practice my full time job of studying God, life, and Om Satyam. To experience the Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram nature of my Soul was my priority. I put Om Satyam first, how to be in my Om Satyam nature, creating the habits of how to conquer the inner enemies and limitations, so that wherever I go on earth, in the heavens, or in the formless, I will be able to identify with my nature of Om Satyam.

Satyam can be experienced in all its diversity: First chakra: appreciation of the creation; Second chakra: dynamics of the male/female and family unit, the creativity, the balancing of the ida and pingala; Third chakra: serving the large family, enjoying and appreciating God in the creation; Fourth chakra: living in unconditional Satyam, looking for it and experiencing it day and night, in the day, in the heavens, having as my priority my love affair with Love. Seek first the kingdom of God–Love, Satyam (the permanent), and the appreciation of the all else (Shivam and Sundaram) will be added. When we have Satyam, the fears, doubts, insecurities, and suffering all fall away. When you are learning, studying and growing, there will be an ever-new joy, because you will be going beyond the small ego, the small self.

The Om, the Word, is the Divine impulse. The Soul calling out for more is an aspect of the impulse of God or the Divine will, and becomes our dharma. Our nature is Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram. How much of that we want to experience in any given moment, day, or lifetime is our choice, because we have free will. It isn’t something we have to create, work years to get, or buy. It is our very nature. We just have to be willing to go beyond the limited ideas, beliefs and attachments that keep us from the experience of the Om Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram nature. When we are willing to go beyond, we begin to experience the kingdom of God, both within and without. We begin to touch and perfect the inner life and touch and perfect the outer life.

An Open Heart

What makes life exciting and ever-new is having an open heart, because the Satyam Consciousness is ever-new. With an open heart you simply overlook the limitations of others to see their Soul. Do not confuse the diversity amongst humanity with the Soul of the human being. We make the effort to look for the face of God, the Om Satyam in every human being. Every human being is created in the image of God. There are self-centered people in the world, but still they are created in the image of God. Their Soul is still Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram.

To study life, we don’t have to be away from people, or be single, or living in a monastery in order to see the beauty of God. We just need to be willing to look with an open heart and open mind. We must be willing to go beyond our beliefs, ideas and samskaras. A samskara is our belief of what we deem to be truth or reality. Samskaras are our mindsets. Some think that is natural for a male and female to get together and have children. It is an aspect of the human nature to do so, but it is not the only natural thing to do. Some people will find it natural to serve the large family (society), and others will find it natural to serve the small family (marriage and children). Some will find it natural to spend a lifetime studying God. One is not more natural than others.

We learn to approach life with dynamics in our interactions. We accept that what we give to life, life will give us back more generously. If we are selfish and just want to take from life, we will find that all around us, life wants to take from us. If we are generous and kind with our thoughts and actions, and have compassion in thought, word, and deed, we will find that life is giving that back to us. What we give to life, life will show us more of. This is what Christ meant when he said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all else will be added.” The kingdom of God is our nature, the nature of God, the oneness of Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram.

Once we have the experience of the kingdom of God, we can appreciate, enjoy and see Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram everywhere. Once we can see, feel, and experience Satyam (Love), within our self, and see it everywhere, there will be no more insecurity or loneliness. There will be no more fear. There is no longer a feeling of not being connected. It removes the pain and suffering from our life. Once we can see and experience Shivam (Thy will is done on earth as it is in heaven), it removes attachment, and the fear of losing something we are attached to. Once we realize or experience the kingdom of God, all else has been added, our appreciation of the Divine harmony. We become Adam and Eve. We are the caretakers of the earth. It belongs to all of us, not to fight over, but to enjoy and delight in.

I do not have to own property on the ocean to go and enjoy the ocean. I don’t have to own property in the mountains to enjoy going to the mountains. I can travel, enjoy, and appreciate wherever I go. I have a desire to explore my whole kingdom…oceans, deserts, winters, summers, the four seasons. I want to be and enjoy being a caretaker, to delight in life. The only thing I can truly take with me wherever I go is Om Satyam. I can feel Om Satyam on the earth, in the heavens, in the Christ/Krishna Consciousness, in the God Consciousness without form. Om Satyam will be there. This is the priority I have found worth committing my life towards having. This consciousness of my nature and the nature of God, at every moment, is what is worth owning. I don’t want to spend a moment without awareness of my Om Satyam nature. That is true suffering.

We must have a willingness to learn and expand our conscious awareness

When we have this, we will find a joy in living. We start by acknowledging that the greatest religion is the religion of Love. It is to have the open heart, to experience and feel love with everything we encounter. In order to do this, we must have an open mind. An open mind means that we have to be willing to look beyond our self, beyond our ideas and judgments of other people who are not the same as our self. An open mind means we have a willingness to experience and appreciate another person regardless of where they are, or what their interests are. It doesn’t matter where they are in their evolutionary development, they are created in the image of God, and have been created with a unique Soul that the Divine Will can be expressed through. Whether they have yet matured into that Divine expression is not the issue. They still have that unique vibration. You can look at a child and see its human qualities. You can see that the child will grow and mature, and that the qualities will continue to develop. In the same way, we can see the unique vibration in others. However, we have to look for it, and we can do this when we are willing to go beyond our small ego.

We begin to study life, people, and God. We study God unmanifested in our meditation time. We quiet down the mind, our ideas and beliefs of how we think life should be, how God should be, and even how we think meditation should be. We just gently focus and concentrate on the mantra, which is a Divine vibration. Then we need to be open to whatever experience we have. When we leave meditation, we use the mind/Causal to appreciate and see the harmony of what is universal… “Let Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” We look for that during our active time, which includes everything in the creation. It includes our alpha rest, so we work towards having 24-hour consciousness.

Coming out of meditation, we use the senses/Astral to enjoy the beauty and delight. We enjoy the senses, the Om Sundaram. We work towards this even in our dreams. We become aware of our dreams, and then we can turn the creation of our dreams of illusion and fantasy into awareness of the Divine creation. Instead of creating our own tiny dream-plays, we use our Astral abilities to be aware of the subtler realms of existence, or God’s cosmic play, maybe even work through some of our karma.

Coming out of meditation, we use the Physical for our study, for our awareness, and for our delight. When we are in nature, we appreciate the quietness of nature. When we are in the city, we study the beauty and diversity of humanity, and look for that which is universal. We look to live within the heart, and look to see the face of God each moment of the day as we are living with more and more Satyam Consciousness.

If we want to continue to learn, grow, and study life, then we need to study our self, and study others around us. It is easy to look for the qualities that are universal. The universal qualities are easy to see when we are willing to look for them within our self and in others. A simple rule is that what we see in others, is also a quality we have within our self, otherwise we wouldn’t be able to even recognize it. If we didn’t already have the quality, we wouldn’t have any relation points to it, and couldn’t see it in others. What we see in others, the good and bad, the beautiful and the ugly, are qualities we already have within us. We look for the universal, and then focus on what is uplifting and inspirational. We overlook the limited or uninspiring qualities.