Life is a struggle. Of that, there is no doubt. But because it is a struggle, we are given endless opportunities, moment by moment, to transform. A transformational moment is one in which we are presented with a challenge either for the first time, or for the hundredth time, and we choose a different reaction, and we are capable of a different response.

Those who believe that “If it’s meant to be, it will be easy and just flow” have missed the point, which is that our lives are not a series of events leading to an external result. They are a series of choices leading to an internal result. Without struggle, without challenge, there would be no need to alter our reactions and evolve into a new state of being.

Those who believe that life is an illusion and that there is no reality are also missing the point. There is nothing illusory about the material world, although, of course, our perceptions are limited and therefore “reality” is out of our capacity to grasp fully. But what is illusory is the notion that there is only one way to respond to and/or interpret the reality that exists. And what is illusory is our focus on external goals and results as being the point of living at all.

Those who are committed to the transformation of consciousness realize that there are no accidents; rather there are a series of opportunities to transform, and most of them are missed. Clinging desperately to our stories, interpretations and reactions, we still engage in life as though it were a battle to assert our will over mind, matter and the process of living itself. This is a battle that cannot be won, but can only lead us into further stress and despair.

If we are to find our way through the maze of conflict, stress and struggle that seem to define our very existence, we have to be willing to see transformation as the point of existence and to embrace every experience as the mechanism through which that gift is granted. And to transform in any moment, we need to have completed the transformation that has prepared us to do so.

To live a life of never-ending potential, we:

1. Release our long-term agendas. What is meant to happen is our transformation; not our success, our self-esteem, a “win,” our external safety or anything else we imagine. Our constant measurement of progress can support our transformation only by offering us the opportunity to stop measuring and to make a different choice.
2. Release our short-term agendas. What we are meant to do moment-by-moment in our lives is to embrace the next transformational moment and allow it to work its magic upon us. When that moment expires, we are ready for the next experience and the next transformation. Released from external agendas, we are in the not-knowing and can intuitively know which experience is “next,” meaning which experience offers us the transformation that will lead to the next transition.

The end of conflict: In a world of transformational moments, there is no conflict with reality. Reality flows through our experience as the constant stage for our transformation. Each moment leads to another seamlessly, as we move from one transformational opportunity to another. And none can be skipped.

We can fight it, or we can embrace it. The shame is how often we need to replay the same transformational moment, because we cannot step into the next transition until we have completed the last.