One day I flicked the TV on and the channel happened to be showing a programme on Thai cuisine.  The two presenters were helping a family of rice farmers work the rice paddy in the morning and then cook lunch.

When lunch time came, everyone stopped work and helped to prepare a delicious and healthy lunch of fresh vegetables, chicken and a fish they had caught in the paddy. Oh and of course rice!

This family did not appear to be wealthy but the quality of their life looked good. Their lunch looked far better than any lunch I have ever had at work!

A question I have been wondering is what is your spiritual growth worth? What value do you put on this?

Is your spiritual growth more important than a job you may find stressful and unfulfilling? I’m sure many people would say yes but we can’t just leave our jobs. We have financial commitments that we cannot ignore.

Recently I have been struggling with this dilemma. My job has been very stressful and impacting my quality of life. To remedy this I started looking for another job. I applied for many jobs but only managed a couple of interviews and no offers. My heart wasn’t in it and it just didn’t feel like the right time.

I discussed this with my teacher. Maybe there was something I had not learnt or maybe mastered yet.

We may all face situations that potentially cause us stress and/or discomfort. Could these situations be the perfect opportunity to master self-worth? What about being the calm and still in the centre of the raging storm? Would we ever be able to master these lessons if there wasn’t chaos?

Spiritual growth would be far easier if we were all surrounded by like minded people and we worked towards supporting each other. The reality many of us face is far from this but this unbeknown gift allows us to grow into a true master.

From a certain perspective could everything be perfect?

Maybe we should be aware of the lessons to be learnt, master these lessons promptly and stay centred in that beautiful still place within us?

Mark- The Alchemist’s Journey