When you are creative, you feel good. The reason is that there is flow from you to the Universe. As you are creative, you get yourself out of yourself and into the Universe. Flowing from you, creativity stirs the Universe. Your joy in creativity does this. The measure is not of what you create. The measure is not of the perfection of what you create. The measure is in your giving, for that is what creativity is.

The young child's painting has an effect on the Universe even when the child's work looks like scribbling. Why? It is not the outcome of events that makes anything meritorious. It is the heart put into it.

Bake a cake with joy, and you are serving the Universe.

This is why it is so vital for you to be joyful.

When you worry about the world, you are not helping it. When you worry about the world, you are rubbing salt into its wounds. When you say to the world: "You are looking a little pale today. You have a lot of problems. You are not doing so well," then the world starts to feel squeamish, and doubts itself and its ability to renew itself.

We are talking about the health of the world. Pay attention to what is healthy in the world, and the world will have more health. Love the world, and the world will take care of its own problems. Love the world, and the world grows strong, and problems dissolve. Your hitting the world with your fists doesn't dissolve anything. Stop complaining. Start loving.

The overt is nowhere near as powerful as the unseen.

You can't talk about the world behind its back. It hears you. It grows weak, or it flushes with vigor, depending upon what you say. You are always in hearing distance of the world. You have no secrets from the world, beloveds.

Odds are that how you treat the world is how you treat yourself. It may be that you are always picking on yourself, telling yourself how you could have been smarter or earlier or better in one way or another. In other words, you may be telling yourself how you have failed, and failed yet again. You may even be always telling yourself how you are not quite up to muster. You may demoralize yourself. Your intentions may be fine, but not your practices. How far do you think you can go when you do not even befriend yourself? You may be a harridan to yourself. How can you be happy with a harridan harping at you?

I am talking about common courtesy, beloveds. Treat yourself genially. Be a king or queen to yourself. Royalty knows how to be courteous. And in courtliness, royalty uplifts. If you have failed in good manners to yourself, change your tactics. Get off your back.

You may ask too much of yourself at the same time as you do not ask enough.

Give yourself a break and give yourself directions you can follow. Ask enough of yourself, but don't be a nag. Be an agreeable person who inspires yourself to go higher with encouragement rather than with disdain.

This is how to treat yourself, and this is how to treat the world.

The world is your child, beloveds. It is of your making. Do not make a feud with the world. Don't take pot shots at it. Encourage it instead. Smile at it. Pat it on its head. Point out to the world how splendid it is. Point out to yourself how splendid you are.