A heart that flows is a heart in place. A flowing heart glides over obstacles as if they were bridges. Of course, obstacles are bridges that lead from one place to another. Obstacles do not have to obstruct. They do not have to get out of the way either. You do not have to meet them head-on. You may, of course, or you can go around them, or you can laugh at them, and there are other choices in between. The thing is, there are many ways to step over or go around an obstacle.

And if there aren't, and you have to turn back, and you have to go in another direction, who says that is a terrible thing? You wanted to go to one college, and now you go to another. You wanted one job, and you got another. You wanted to marry this man or this woman, and they didn't want you. You wanted one kind of sandwich for lunch, and you got another. You wanted a pair of shoes, and they didn't fit. You had your heart set on something, and you got something else.

Who has the say that you won or you lost? Who can say where a stream in life is supposed to flow and where it is not? Who decides what is tragic and what is not? In the big matters as in the small matters, it would appear that you didn't get your way. Who is to say that not getting your way is a terrible thing and should not happen? Who names an obstacle an obstacle? Who decides to be stymied by a bridge or to cross it?

Your fate, beloveds, is not what appears in front of you. Your fate is how you deal with what appears in front of you. Certainly, there is such a thing as luck. Be lucky then in how you appraise situations. It is you who matters, beloveds. It is you who decides what to do. Everyone agrees to not cry over spilt milk, yet tears are shed over milk that spilt.

You are the treasure, beloveds, not what occurs. Your heart is the treasure, for your heart is great, and it can be new. Your heart does not have to be set on something. It can be open to what befalls. There have been downpours, and you were happy. The innocent rain did not interfere with your happiness. By the same token, there have been days when the sun shone brightly, and on that day you were sad or even miserable. Outside events are not to be the calculator of your happiness or unhappiness. Surely, you are the calculator.

Surely, you prefer one thing to another, but preferences honored or dishonored are not the determiners of your life. Be elated or downtrodden, as you like. The same person who walks through the field of daisies is the same person who walks through the brambles. Where you walk does not have to be your determiner.

Your body maintains a range of temperature regardless of the temperature outside. May your heart have a range of constancy as well. You have some say over your heart, and your heart doesn't have to zoom to the top any more than it has to zoom to the bottom. Beloveds, your heart can carry a certain equanimity. Set the temperature of your heart. This is another way to say to appreciate life in all its colors. The colors will inevitably change, but your quotient does not have to.

A resistant heart battens itself down when there is a storm while an open heart rides the waves.