It seems to Me that My children give way too much attention on not feeling well, missing or needing something or losing something, or on questioning why they are here on Earth, pondering: "What am I supposed to be doing here? What is any of this for? I want to know the meaning of my life, and I want to know now."

It seems to Me that My children give way too much attention to questioning and not quite enough to giving. This is a polite way of My saying that you spend too much time and energy thinking about yourself and what's going to happen and why why why and what what what, when you could be helping someone and Me. You certainly don't think you're helping anyone when you are thinking about yourself or thinking about the ills of the world or thinking about anyone's seemingly dire situation in life, do you?

Believe it or not, there are other things to think about. You must really like the squeezing feeling that thoughts of suffering evoke in you. You must really like feeling self-pity and pity for others. Will you kindly stop that now, right now? Stop holding suffering to you. Never again feel sorry for someone, for yourself or anyone else. Eliminate the word "poor" from your vocabulary. From this day forward, do not say, "Poor Mary," or "Poor Joe," or "Poor me."

Pity is not a high vibration. It probably holds hands with anger and fear and all those pitiful emotions that clearly serve no one. You must have thought that pity was a noble emotion. The only thing pity can do is to make you or someone else feel unfortunate. If someone else is less fortunate than you, then that makes you more fortunate. Of course, I have to say, many of My children seem to feel good about considering themselves unfortunate. It may be almost as good as feeling fortunate. Being unfortunate must lend a certain air of importance to you.

Better not to feel, give, or receive commiseration. It is a poor substitute for love. Very poor. Pity and such are weak, and they weaken the giver and the receiver. I cannot think of one thing that commiseration strengthens other than weakness.

I am aware that the world teaches you to moan and groan. I am requesting that you no longer do that.

If you happen to feel a need for more attention drawn to you, find another way than drawing sympathy. And if you are with someone who is drowning in feeling sorry for himself, be understanding and yet not add to their sense of feeling wronged or unfortunate. Do not add to the refrain of: "Isn't that awful?" It is a poor refrain.

I do not ask you to make light of your or another's troubles. I ask you to refrain from digging them in deeper. Do not make the disturbance indelible. I ask you to keep your own equilibrium. When one person is laid low, what is the good of your being laid low as well?

Be honest. As grievous as someone's suffering may be, you know you don't take it as seriously as the person who is going through it. It is good you care, and it is good that you don't get swept up in what is the matter. It is not necessarily the mark of a good friend for you to be in pain too. Be close to your friends, and yet not make their pain your own.

Come into the sunlight, beloveds.