When you meet pitfalls in life, no matter how awful they are, you have to – absolutely have to - forget about blame.

Blame is not the issue. The issue is to move forward. If you don’t want to stay in a situation, then you have to change your direction. You can blame all you want. You can blame Me, yet where does this get you?

Nor are you to blame yourself. Blame of any kind doesn’t get you where you want to be.

Let’s say you have been sentenced to life in prison, and you are totally innocent. This is so unjust. You are innocent, yet somehow you were found guilty, sometimes, of exactly what, you are not sure. Being found guilty while innocent has happened more than once.

What are you going to spend your energy on? An injustice has been done. You are blamed for something you did not do. You are left holding the bag. Dear One, you absolutely have to get out of the blame game from any direction and on every level.

There are innocent people who have literally been in prison for a crime they did not commit. Some have been vindicated later and freed from prison. Some have come out of prison after forty years.

And, yet, some have not gotten out of prison and have risen above and made something of themselves and their lives in prison. They gained and helped others gain. Hey, what good does bitterness do anyone? What benefit is there for anyone in bitterness? Why would you want to spend your life bitter and be toxic to yourself?

A tsunami that sweeps up many people and sentences them to death is not fair. A tsunami that sweeps up your loved ones and leaves you to mourn is also not fair.

What is better for all the sufferers to do but to get on with their lives as best they can? Surely, no one wants to be eaten alive with bitterness. Certainly bitterness is not a reward. Bitterness rusts your whole life.

For your sake and for the sake of others, start anew. Somehow you are in a place where you do not want to be. If you were on a deserted island, you would look to yourself to make the best life possible. This is always your job – to make the best life you can with what you have. You don’t want the situation you are in – this is no secret. We come again and again to the simple question - what will you do now?

I say to you all the time that you have to let go of the past. You can’t commandeer it. You can’t undo it. Whatever restrictions you must live within, don’t resign yourself to those limits. I ask you to treat yourself in the best way possible. Certainly, you take the steps toward your release, and, meanwhile, you become an asset to yourself and others. We are not talking about your taking the line of least resistance. We’re talking about your taking the high road. This is what you must always do. This is your path. It is open to you.

Do all the caterwauling you want, still, the highest path is always open to you. Everyone can rise despite all the bad luck in the world.

There are plenty of reasons to feel sorry for yourself. Reasons are not the point. For every reason to rebuke life, there are a thousand reasons to bless it. Your thoughts are relevant to your life. What you think dominates your life. What you think of your life now determines your life. Regardless of circumstances, how you think affects the topography of your life. Complain and blame now, and life will be sure to serve you more of the same. Life knows where to find you. Thoughts have energy, and this energy they attract.

Consider your life a garden. You water what you want to grow. You don’t demand results. You water your garden of life, and let it grow without your insistence. You give your life every opportunity to be what you desire it to be, yet you don’t hammer at your life. It is with your thoughts that you rise above. Take the direction you want to grow in.

Think nutritiously, and watch your garden grow.

Think negatively about your garden, and watch the crows in your garden eat the seeds and take your crop.