I want you to be so strong that even if your world around you is falling apart, nothing touches your joy. I want you to be like the spiritual grand masters. You are in the world, but you are not of the world. The whole purpose of the spiritual journey and the human process is to let go, to literally enjoy the ride, to be in the matrix, but to detach. To do your best and then let life do the rest. That’s how I live my life. I
believe in my sovereign power. I believe in personal agency. I do my best. I work hard. I treat people well. I do my best to push magic into the world and be a good human being with everyone I meet. I let go. I detach from outcomes. That is a great way to protect your positivity. It’s a great way to stay joyful.
It’s a great way to stay peaceful. I’m encouraging you with great love and respect. Do your best, let life do the rest. Trust life. Trust the universe has your back. Trust that if something does not work out for you as intended, something even better is coming. Key philosophy. If something doesn’t work out, it’s because something even better is coming. Let go. Detach. Stop living with so much control that if something doesn’t work out the way you wanted it to work out, something is wrong. I bet if you look back at your so-called failed relationships and your so-called missteps, every single one of them had a blessing in disguise that led you to where you now are. I remember running in London on the embankment, getting close to the Tate Modern, one of my favorite art galleries in the world, and I heard this street musician, this busker playing guitar.
I had the presence to hear the beautiful music he was playing, and so I stopped. I pulled out my earphones that I was running with, and I sat down next to him and he looked at me. He said, “Do you mind if I play another song?” I said, “I’d love to.” I was just so in my heart. I was just so in the moment. And he said, “What’s your name?” And I said, “Robin.” And he said, “Well, Robin, this is a song I wrote about my failed relationship.” And then he played the song. And on that London afternoon, he brought
tears to my eyes. And after he finished, he said, “What did you think?” He was Scottish, he told me. “What did you think?” And I said to him, I said, “Well, I don’t
think that was a failed relationship.” And he said, “What do you mean?” And I said, “Well, but for that relationship, you would not be able to have made that song.”
I once sat next to an artist on a flight to Paris, and he said to me, “I pick relationship
partners who break my heart because it’s good for my art.” Suffering is always a doorway into artistry. The people who suffer the most have the most wisdom. You think of Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa and Martin Luther King Jr. The greatest human beings who have ever graced the planet have had their hearts broken. Rumi
said it so well, the great philosopher. He said, “Keep breaking your heart over and over and over until it opens.” And so, suffering and adversity is simply greatness in the making. As time evolves, if you want to own your greatness, you will start to understand with greater intimacy that suffering is a gift. We grow stronger on the difficult runs.
I become a better skier on the most difficult runs, not on the easy slopes. It’s the hard seasons of life, the winters. Albert Camus said it so well. He said, “In the midst of a difficult winter, I realize within me there was an invincible summer.” It is the things that break our hearts, that open up our hearts not only to love and creativity and artistry, but to our strength. You’re using the suffering to burn away the dross
like you burn away the bad elements or unvaluable elements so that the gold shines.
You become a diamond polisher when the world falls apart. Then you get to be the confident expert and you understand, life is a series of seasons. You’ve got your times on the summit of success, and we all get our periods in the dark valley of difficulty, and we become graceful. We celebrate the good times, and we grow in the difficult times.