Waking up is the beginning of awareness, the first step in spiritual healing. Awareness is the spark in the ignition of change. Persistence in staying aware is the fuel, meaning we consistently try and try again to come back to mindful awareness whenever we have fled, resisting mightily the idea of losing our grip on anything we know as familiar, including habits of mind and body that are making us miserable.

The perfect time for spiritual counseling can be when the old ways of looking at our bodies, our minds, our partners, our possessions, our careers and especially our spirits, start to feel really stuck. We may be wavering between wanting to give up completely and wanting to surrender to a new way, if we only knew what it was!

Stay right with that feeling. There’s gold there. Have you ever noticed the similarity between wanting to give up and being ready to surrender to something new?

When we let go, and we accept the astonishing possibility of something new replacing the old and “immoveable,” we need to allow ourselves to mourn the old as it is released, so we have space for the new. As we release what we no longer need, we can be grateful for what it gave us when we did need it.

Get quiet for a moment. Take a moment and go within. Take a breath, deeply. Let it go, slowly. Really do this for yourself. Now is the moment to try. There is nothing to lose. Take one more deep breath.

You have always done your best with what you had to work with and your level of understanding at the time. Maybe it is that simple. It is now a new moment and a new circumstance. All that holds us back is not recognizing this fact, and making a new intention in the moment of Now.