Each of us is a student of life, willingly or unwillingly.  Something that we often overlook is the fact that each of us is a teacher as well.

Many of the spiritual texts are made up of very small groups of words  For example, the Tao Te Ching.  When there are too many words, the mind finds its way to the forefront. 

The role of the spiritual teacher is not to impress with words, but rather to simply remind us of who we really are.  Some of the best teachings have no words at all.  Enough said.

More brief posts on spiritual growth at NowUniverse.com.

Your awareness is always somewhere; and with that awareness goes your energy; and whatever you are energizing is growing. The Universe doesn't judge whether your awareness is for or against something.  It simply responds to the energy you project. So, if you are giving your awareness, your attention to an unfavorable circumstance, then you are giving that unfavorable circumstance food to grow on.  On a positive note, when your awareness is on a favorable circumstance, then you are feeding it energy food to grow on as well.  Your awareness is extremely powerful.  It is a double-edged sword that you are wielding each moment. 

If you want something to grow, put your attention on it, even if it is not yet manifested in the physical realm.  This is the power that lies behind visualization and affirmation.  You are blessed with a great opportunity to give thanks for some thing or some circumstance you have imagined, while it is still in the unseen realm.

So, if all around you seems to be crumbling, literally take your attention away from that set of circumstances.  If you focus on what you do not want, then you'll get more of the same.  If you focus on what you do want, even if you can't yet touch it, then you'll get more of that as well.

Note:  I am extremely apolitical.  Yet, I still wonder what would happen if instead of attacking an opponent, a politician and all of his/her followers completely ignored the other candidate, thus removing all of the energy they were giving the opponent?

Recently, I posted an article called "Presence, Expectation, Gratitude (P.E.G.)."  It spoke of a way of going about your day.  You can click the link for the full, brief article, but this is a summary:  (1)  Presence:  You have a moment-to-moment choice of chasing thoughts, or living life where it actually is happening--the Now.  (2)  Expectation:  What you expect, you experience.  (3)  Gratitude: One of the best ways to stay in constant awareness of the Source of all abundance is to always give thanks to that Source.

I believe there is something else that should be added to the daily frame of mind, or daily frame of "no-mind," if you will.  It is meditation.  There is a growing body of scientific evidence of the physical, mental, and emotional benefits of meditation.  The less quantifiable, but perhaps most significant benefit is of a spiritual nature.  Meditation sets the stage for all the play of life.  Presence, expectation, and gratitude flow naturally from spring of meditation.  So, let's expand the acronym to: Meditation, Presence, Expectation, Gratitude...MPEG...the movie of your life.

We could say that meditation doesn't have a reason or doesn't have a purpose. In this respect it's unlike almost all other things we do except perhaps making music and dancing. When we make music we don't do it in order to reach a certain point, such as the end of the composition. If that were the purpose of music then obviously the fastest players would be the best. Also, when we are dancing we are not aiming to arrive at a particular place on the floor as in a journey. When we dance, the journey itself is the point, as when we play music the playing itself is the point. And exactly the same thing is true in meditation. Meditation is the discovery that the point of life is always arrived at in the immediate moment. 
                 ~Alan Watts