teachings and the practice very personally, not trust-
ing anybody else’s interpretations, because you your-
self have the wisdom within, and you yourself will
find out how to open that door. As much as we would
like Juan or Juanita to get out of our life and give us a
break, somehow they stick around, and even if we do
manage to get rid of them, they seem to reappear
with another name and another face very soon. They
are addressing the point at which we are most stuck.
It’s important, in terms of being grateful to every-
one, to realize that no slogan, no meditation practice,
nothing that you can hear in the teachings is a solu-
tion. We’re evolving. We will always be learning more
and more, continually opening further and further.
It is good to open your mind so that each situation
is completely fresh. It’s as if you’ve never been there
before, a completely new take. But even with this ap-
proach, you can get trapped. Let’s say you’re a medi-
tation instructor. Your student arrives for a meeting,
and because you’re very open and in tune, something
magical happens. There’s some real communication
between the two of you, and you can see that some-
thing has helped, something has gotten through and
connected with her own heart. She leaves and you
feel great—”Wow! I did that wonderful thing. I could
feel it.” The next person comes in and you forget
about the freshness because you’re feeling so good
about what you just did. He sits down and talks to
you and you come out with the same answers that
80 Be Grateful to Everyone