“Poor me,” the voice in my head says.
“If it weren’t for this, my life would be easy.
I could be free, happy, full of energy and love.”

“Really?” I ask the voice one day.
“I mean…you’ve had this refrain for so many years…
‘Poor me, if only…’

“And yet that situation from way back when is gone,
that person dead, that job departed,
that old health condition evaporated. And still…
‘Poor me.’

“What if, instead of listening to you
and traveling down that dark road
of pity and despair,
I stop your voice altogether,
halt it,
like a great bull frozen
with little but a red cape?

“What if, instead,
I call to the Lover within.”

You, my Beloved, sent this person,
this condition,
this “tragedy.”
You, my Great Love
know what is best for me.

And since this is my experience—
this lack,
this hurt,
this bruised heart,
then this is my perfect teaching.

Only this can birth
my complete liberation.

No “poor me” at all.
Rich me.
Grateful me,
with an opportunity to rise above,
to overcome,
to transform,
to leave all self-pity
and glow with gratitude.

This view launches me into a whole new world.

I move from gazing into a chasm
to soaring beyond the Milky Way.

I leave the trudge of daily life
and flow within the eternal now.

I quit seeking perfection in these mortal palms
and become the perfect love
that lights the entire universe.