Gurudeva spoke often of the difficulties life brings us. He would reassure us that nothing can come into our experience but that we have the strength to face and overcome it. That message never grows old, and it was brought to mind today when a CyberCadet sent us a series of photos from France, showing the power of nature to overcome adversity. We share those alone with an apt quote from "Merging with Siva."

Even a great soul faces difficulties, but he does not take them personally....Be equal to whatever you meet! That is a better way to react to life. It is accomplished simply by meeting everything in
understanding, by demanding understanding from within yourself. And
if you feel that everything happening to you is a play of universal love and
you are able to maintain that consciousness of universal love in yourself,
then you are beyond the happenings of the world. Lifted in consciousness,
you can see through and enjoy all the states of consciousness. The circumstances
of your life will reflect this change.

Watch for those small incidents that imperceptibly get under your skin and create an eruption a few days
later. Little things that do not contribute creatively to your life are an indication
that there is some kind of subconscious disturbance that you have
not resolved. Look your nature right in the face in meditation, without
squirming, and you will discover what the little disturbances are, some
issue over which you are rationalizing, a small resentment or worry that is
keeping a part of your mind confused, and thus, necessarily, most of your
circumstances confused.