Noor-Malika Chishti

                                        Free Will is the capacity within us

          to make the best of any given moment.

The place to begin is not outside ourselves.

Yet, most of us find it too tempting

                                                  and draw attention to whatever is before us

                     instead of diving within

where the source and resource awaits us.

We have no power to make another to be fair, loving, honest, supportive—

                     or to be whatever adjective we conjure.

                                        The question to ask is

                              what do I need to develop within me

in order

to get the lesson

of this situation?

          What arises here will most likely be a verb.

                                                            Realize each opportunity that

                                        comes your way

employs the economics of God…

because everyone gets a chance

                                                  for what is theirs to learn in any given situation.

It shouldn’t matter if another “gets” their lesson

          (except for Bodhisattvas, which most of us aren’t)

                              but

it does matter

if we get ours.

                              When we learn not to waste time figuring out

how others need to grow—a consistently frustrating path—

          we remove the distraction from addressing

                                        the one and only person we have the power to change.