Someone commented on a friend's wall on FB questioning why healers and mediums charge for their services. His argument was that spiritual teachers should teach through example and have faith that the universe will provide. He mentioned Buddha, monks, and shared a philosophical story about an old lady and a bag of precious stones. 

The post was promoting one of my links, but I didn't join the fray. My friend and a couple of others spat chilli sauce in his eyes – she doesn't cook, so I was surprised she had some with her – and carved oi, oi, oi into his chest with a nail file, and he confessed that he had spent the last three years being fed and housed by strangers. He repaid those people by doing household chores and impersonating Oliver Twist, “Please Sir, I want some more.” In Australia, we call that free-loading, and if the chores aren't being done it's called raising teenagers.

"We can deny everything, except that we have the possibility of being better."

 ~ The Dalai Lama

We lament over our faults and shortcomings. We stress over all those things that don't turn out the way we would like. Yet, so long as we can remain open to the possibility that we can become better, we have the opportunity to grow and learn from our shortcomings and sufferings, becoming wiser, more joyful human beings as a result.

What you think of as your weaknesses are, most likely, blessings in disguise. Embrace your weaknesses. Be grateful for them. Turn them into your greatest strengths. Allow them to teach you - to transform yourself into a better being.

Of all the “New Age” practices, healing is undoubtedly one of the most sought after. I often wondered why that was. After much research, I came to the conclusion that sometime after 1950, there was a growing disillusionment with “traditional” medicine. Because of a complicated set of rising circumstances,  the face of medicine and patient care was rapidly changing and becoming more institutionalized. Specialization became more prevalent and medicine became more complicated to practice.

The things that hold us back spiritually are all within ourselves. All negative attitudes spell our own undoing because they draw the mind away from God and affirm a separate reality. Only when you’ve overcome the carping, doubting spirit can you uplift your mind in attunement with the Divine.