Whatever offense you take at what someone says or does, odds are that the offender is seeing that exact same offense in you. This is an eye-opener, isn’t it? Whatever you are complaining about concerning the other person, he or she likely has the same complaint about you. Your complaints come in bright clear colors.
 
You think the other person isn’t listening. The other person thinks you don’t listen. All you can do, beloveds, is to open your ears and your understanding. This is a fact of life -- the person to work on is yourself. “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars but in ourselves...”  
 
Let us get away from the idea of fault. It is not a fault to be alive on Earth and yearning to understand and make life more understandable. This is what you are yearning for, is it not? We are talking about relationships in the world. No two are the same, and yet they share a common ground: Two learners learning as best they can in any given moment.
 
Of course, I am speaking of people who are well-intentioned, and that is the premise for you to come from. Come from it.
 
Right here We are talking about family members and friends who simply want from you what you want from them. A chance for understanding, a chance for love, a chance for survival in a world that has not always seemed welcoming and friendly.
 
We are entering a new world, one in which you can feel favored. How you want this – a world that says, “Welcome. So glad you are here. You add to the zest of life. You make life more livable. You are a breath of fresh air. You are important to the well-being of all.”
 
And, so, this is the welcome you must give. We can call it hospitality, beloveds. Be hospitable to everyone you meet on Earth, even to those few who may or may not be well-intentioned. They may have old-fashioned beliefs such as: “Take advantage of another, or you will be taken advantage of. Steal from others before you are stolen from. Squash your competition. Be on top. Don’t put up with anything. Show others what you are made of. You are made of steel, and you are someone to be reckoned with in the world.”
 
The list can go on and on for a world that seems to have forsaken you. Of course, dear ones, these thoughts also injure the one who thinks them.
 
Of course, right now, you do the best you can do. Yet now is another moment as We speak, and now you see greater. And as you see, so you act. Is this not so? Where you see friendliness or danger – whatever you see – you act on your perception. It is your perception that We wish to make greater. As you perceive, so you act. You react. Look for different signals than you perhaps have been looking for. Instead of being alert to danger, be alert to acceptance, and so will you grow in acceptance, not acceptance of insult but acceptance of one other regardless of how others may seem to be. They are living in the past and reacting to the past, whether they know it or not. This describes you as well.
 
Now you know it, and now you step out of the past into what is right now. Look to give the peace that surpasses understanding.