For a long time you've experienced the pain of dealing with a world that makes life hard, that requires conflict and struggle as the tools of daily existence.

You've had to make many difficult choices just to get by and carve out a life that has worked for you, albeit not always as you would have liked.

Along the way, it's exacted a heavy toll. Perhaps on your health. Or finances. Or relationships. Or maybe just on your peace and happiness.

Yet, something within you has changed. The pain is no longer the focus on your attention, though it demands it from time to time in an ever-constant reminder that world is still there, with all the challenges it brings just to survive within it.

Set aside your beliefs for a minute. Forget what you've been told by your religious training. Ignore the thoughts that make you question the very existence of God, much less how a loving one could allow so many bad things to happen to good people.

Now, without benefit of input from your mind, answer this question.

Where do you come from?

Without the reassuring and self-righteous (and often wrong) thoughts that are ever-present in our minds, we're forced to enter an experiential world that seems very strange to most people.

Discontent. It's like a virus that eats away at us inside, making us dissatisfied with our lives and causing us to want more in or from them, even when we're not sure what that something is.

In many ways discontent is a good thing, for it keeps us motivated and moving toward the future. But it also robs us of the joy of the moment where life is lived. It's like having a burr under the saddle, constantly irritating and distracting us from what is going on now.

A number of years back a friend remarked how unusual my choice of the law was as a career path for me. It's not that he thought there was anything wrong with the law. Only that it didn't seem to fit me, that he saw me more as a healer or teacher than hired gun.

We come into 3D world to create the lives we need, but no one teaches us how to do that. Perhaps in those moments we think the one we've created doesn't feel so right, it might help to consider just what we've gotten ourselves into.

As we look at our lives from an energetic perspective, we can see that the path to where we are today is the result of a complex blend of forces, each interacting upon the others to steer us down the road of life.

We recently attended a public forum where tea and coffee party representatives squared off. It wasn't pretty. Both sides of the audience took turns making statements that inflamed the other. Neither spent much time on the issues, and even less listening to those they didn't agree with.

What hope do we have that Washington will listen to us when those who oppose the way they do business won't listen to each other?

Anyway, here's part of an email I later sent to a local coffee organizer:

So many times we let the apparent obstacles of circumstance hold us back.

Sometimes it's a matter of excess. Too old. Too young. Too inexperienced. Too much experience.

At others it's lack. Not smart enough. Don't have the right connections. Wrong degree. Too little money. Or know how. Or family support. Or whatever.

Got an urge to make a difference? Servers, volunteers, and those acting on an inner vision will be gathering at our first Co-Creation Incubator starting July 7 and continuing monthly thereafter.

Check back soon for updates, or follow our Twitter feed @PeaceOptions.