If it's not one thing that bothers you, it is another. Is this not so? When you live with someone, you are aggravated. When you live alone, you are lonely. It is yourself you have to come to peace with.

I do not say that coming to peace with yourself is easy. I am saying that you have to find a way to stop letting your circumstances infringe on your spirit as you do.

Life is not always a piece of cake. And yet, beloveds, you are growing to be the piece of cake, a person who doesn't get bothered by so much. You may be in the fray at the same time as you are beyond it. You may be in the midst of the fray, and yet you are not embroiled in it.

Life for you becomes like a book you can put down. Unless you love it, you don't have to read the entire book. You don't have to absorb the details. The book can be there on your coffee table, and yet what occurs in the book doesn't overcome you. You can be in the midst of chaos and not drink in the chaos.

You have always wanted to be your own person. I am telling you now that you are your own person. You are very much your own person. You are the one who hasn't quite imbibed that.

It is no longer viable for you to say, for example, "That's how I am. Little things bother me. Big things too. I have always been sensitive to my environment."

Change your inner environment. Be sensitive to the feelings of others. When you are feeling put upon, what can you do is to lighten the burden of someone else, perhaps even the person who is impinging upon you? Be what you want the other person to be. You, yourself, give what you crave.

Your chances of changing another person are slim. Changing another is harder than changing yourself. How you change yourself is how you look at things. Let a little light in. Pull up the blinds of your own heart. Others, or one other, is inconsiderate of your feelings? Then you be more considerate of their feelings.

When others are rude to you, then you are courteous to them. When others are inconsiderate of you, then you are very considerate to them. Consider this a game you play in life, and this is how you play it. The rule to follow is to give better than you receive. And when you receive nothing from others, then you give them the favor you would like from them.

This game is called: Not Tit for Tat. It is called: No Limits. It is called: Giving Love Even When You Don't Receive it. It is called: Being a Good Sport. It is called: Setting an Example. It is called: Rising a Notch. It is called: Growing Up. It is also called The Golden Rule. This is the rule of thumb you are to go by. Go by it now. Even if you have to pull yourself up by your bootstraps, do it.

Beloveds, there is no other rule to follow. Kill or be killed is not your motto. Lash out first is not your motto. Defend is not your motto. Offend is the antithesis of your model. Hurt before someone else does is not your motto. Have the final word is not your motto. Will you accept the motto I give you? From this day forth, Love is your motto.