“Each person has inside a basic decency and goodness. If he listens to it and acts on it, he is giving a great deal of what it is the world needs most. It is not complicated but it takes courage. It takes courage for a person to listen to his own good.” – Pablo Casals

Each person is composed of a human shell – a mind, heart and body – which surrounds and is designed to be permeated by the being at his core. That being, or soul as it is commonly referred to, is perfect.

If, in the living of life, your attention is consumed by the outer details of circumstance, you will forever be putting out fires and being led around by that which is outside of you. If, on the other hand, you make the space to listen to and build up the courage to act on the goodness which is present within you always, you will begin to extend control from a balanced place where you were previously controlled by the capricious details of outer circumstance.

Your soul, your being, does not need to learn; it is already perfect. The learning required is strictly a matter of training your “human” capacities of body, mind and heart to accommodate the expression of the decency and goodness – the light – within you.

I agree with Sr. Casal’s assertion that it isn’t complicated, but it does require courage. It takes courage to focus attention in places that have long been ignored by practical men who have convinced themselves that they must vanquish the devil in the details in human strength.

Never wrestle with or react to the devil in the details. Look instead to bring the light of understanding to bear on the details from within outward. In so doing you will find that you  treat even the most tense and convoluted circumstances you face with grace and ease.

Whenever you are anxious, stressed or reactive, you have stopped listening to and or acting on the goodness and decency within you. Yes, it is that simple. Unnatural tension results whenever attention is misplaced.