Your inner development progresses according to three major stages of awareness. In moving from ordinary awareness to the first stage, you transform your ego structure; in attaining the second stage, you transcend your ego identity; and in the full realization of the final stage, you become transparent to ordinary reality. With each successive stage of awareness, your mind is controlled less and less by pleasant or unpleasant conditions. Remember, you begin your journey from where you are and just as you are. Therefore, becoming mindful of yourself is your first act of practice. At first your inner changes simply mean that you are becoming psychologically or emotionally healthier. Now that you feel better about yourself, you have to fight off temptations to abandon your spiritual goal and fulfill your ego’s wants.

Dancing with Life, Chapter 17, pp. 199-201

For your reflection: It can make a significant difference in your practice if you can embrace the possibility of your mind being organized in a non-ordinary way. Notice your mental reactions to this idea. Are you open to it, or is your mind filled with skepticism? It is fine to have don’t know mind, but skepticism limits your possibilities. Also, notice if you think, “Others can achieve this change, but not me.”