The American culture especially, and Western culture in general, urges us to not only become the best that we can be, but also win against the competition.

Most of us make an effort to do and be the best we can be, which leads to a distinction we need to make between the notion of struggle and the notion of effort.

I had a classic case of what people call "seeker's disease." That was part of my journey, but now, meaning is like a secret that's revealing itself moment by moment, day by day.

I've come to see that the way my life shows up is actually my purpose.

Struggle has a natural place in our life, but the fight or flight syndrome is often false struggle. There are times for that but we can have that reaction in areas of our life where it's not successful. Areas that concern existential issues or qualities of life - like meaning or purpose or love. These things actually come to us more as we let go of struggling to achieve them.

The capacity to become aware of the givens of our existence - such as change - and to actually welcome those as just part of our human experience releases the struggle.

The everyday, familiar sense of self who lives in time, and that dimension which we've called presence, that is always here, that is still and quiet.