During my twenty years (or so) of dating, I had many well-meaning people in my life say ‘be careful’ in response to sharing my latest love interest. It was intended as some form of positive advice, I’m sure. But they were saying something that was basically unintelligible to me. No matter how hard I tried, I was constitutionally unable to fathom this advice.

‘Be careful?’ I would say to myself incredulously. ‘How do I be careful? I’m not exactly going to meet a random stranger down a dark alleyway at night, am I? So what do they mean? Be Careful. Hmph!’

I was naive in thinking that each time I found peace, I had found final enlightenment. Then the past pain would rear its ugly head again. In those desperate moments, I found myself asking; ‘How deep is this well of pain!? and ‘When? When will it end!?’ Twenty years later, I no longer ask these questions. I no longer seek to be enlightened or free of suffering. I understand that each moment is a choice.

It is rare to be told that the measure of success is the level of joy that you feel. It is even rarer still, to be told that you are worthy of the feeling of joy irrespective of your life situation. In fact, you are worthy of all that is good, no matter how you feel and irrespective of whether you are aware of the joy that is ever-present (although not always noticed) within you.