I ask myself, does the world around me cause me to feel the way I do, or do my thoughts? This is a hugely important question to answer, once and for all and every moment, for in one I am a victim of circumstance, and in the other I am forever empowered.

I have come to realize that to follow a well-disciplined spiritual path is really not all that complicated. It is really about the conditions for our happiness and peace of mind, and how strictly we view those conditions. This has everything to do with our fundamental belief in cause and effect.

Most of the time, when you ask somebody if they could change one thing in their life, you would rarely expect them to say, “My mind,” or, “I wish I could change the way I see certain situations.” Quite the contrary: when asked this question, most people reply with wanting to change the situation itself or some circumstance or person, because they believe that is what causes their unhappiness.

One of the most liberating personal discoveries I have made is the knowledge that whenever I am upset, there is another way of looking at any situation, person, or condition. I can shift my perception, be led to peace, and can respond with compassion where a moment ago I may have believed there was something to be upset, blaming, or angry about. In fact, such a shift in perception is precisely what awakening to our true nature is made of.

Most of us, if we are truly honest with ourselves, have an ever-evolving and ever-growing list of what we think we must change in order to be at peace or to be happy—we might say, partisan politics, family bickering, bureaucratic controls, lack of money, and so on and so on. But what if we are mistaken?

This is what I have been getting at. What if nothing needs to change other than our perception of what we see? What if happiness is in fact more about remembering who we are, rather than attempting to change anything or anyone at all? The most liberating of ideas or inventions that will set us free and save our world from any human caused disaster have nothing to do with new technology or an outer change of any kind, but with our own thinking. We can shift our perception of the world. This is not just some philosophical meandering, but truly a key to our freedom.

Everything can become a reminder to be loving and compassionate toward ourselves and others. This is a radical statement—many would argue that such acts as murder, oppression, or environmental raping need to be dealt with aggressively, often violently, and without empathy, that they must be met with anger. We also each have our long lists of the little things that seem big at the time, like the guy who cuts us off in traffic, or the ornery checkout clerk. But the key is, remembering our spiritual path, to ask, what can this act by this other person remind me of? What is really needed from me, here?

The answer can be love—the person can remind me of the call for love from all of humanity, and what is needed from me is to respond in this way. Obviously, none of this is easy to do when we are upset. Yet, I invite you to join me in the practice of Inspirational Psychology by trying to remember, “In every situation I need to remind myself of the need for love and compassion within in any reaction I have.” Some would call me naïve, but I don’t believe that.

I don’t call Love naïve. Instead I call remembering Love the most important decision I can make, because it is realizing that my perception determines my experience, thus the higher effectiveness of my response. Everything that happens, everything in the world is a reminder, a trigger for some emotion or response. But it is up to us to decide what we are being reminded of.