In order to grow physically, we have to take risks. If we want to learn to walk, we must be willing to fall. To grow spiritually, we must also risk and sacrifice. The simple, elusive truth must be learned again and again: You cannot hope to find your self unless you are first willing to lose yourself.
For as long as you can remember, your self-image has been highly selective both in what it includes and excludes. To grow you must be open to ideas that previously were unthinkable. If you will allow yourself to think and act more freely, your relationships with others will change. The ones that don’t last may not have been worthwhile.
There are many opportunities for personal growth. We can seek them deliberately by trying therapy or meditation. But sometimes the chance is thrust upon us by a painfully stressful situation. Any experience that unsettles our ordinary sense of reality or challenges our unexamined identity offers access to the rest of the self.
Pain and disruption are the gateways to spiritual growth, but stepping across the threshold is up to you.