The values in your heart

When your world seems frustrating, keep in mind that the most important part of you exists beyond those frustrations. When life feels painful, never forget that the pain, however difficult it may be, is confined to just a small portion of who you truly are.
All around you are things you can see and touch and physically manipulate. They are part of life, but they are by no means all there is.
You cannot hold love in your hand, and yet you know for certain that it exists. You cannot capture joy in a box or an envelope and yet you have no doubt that it is real.
When the outward concerns of life seem to be overwhelming, remind yourself, there's more. There is so very much more to living and being than those things you can see and hear, taste and smell, touch and possess.
Even those losses and disappointments that feel big and burdensome, are small in comparison to all the beautiful, positive possibilities living within you. Look beyond the noisy, superficial distractions and remember the miracle of your existence.
Live your life around the values in your heart. And those everyday pains and nuisances will lose their power to bring you down.
-- Ralph Marston