Removing your own splinters.

Have you ever had a splinter?

Most people have, and so nearly everyone can relate to this analogy.

When you have a splinter, let's say, in your fingertip, it can be so small it's nearly invisible, yet so painful you can't touch anything without hurting yourself. Sometimes, it can be easy to forget about the splinter if you aren't doing anything challenging, like if you're just sitting on the couch watching TV. You might even start to think, "Hey, my splinter must be gone! Maybe it "worked itself out" and now I don't have to deal with it."

Then you go to grab something or push a button and you're reminded that yep, it's still there.

At this point, you've got 2 options: 1) you can try to live your life with the pain (it's only minor, right?) and/or pretend that it's not there, even though it's really hurting you sometimes, or 2) you can grab the magnifying glass and tweezers, turn on the Light and really take a closer look at the source of the pain.

Yes, option 2 can sometimes generate even more pain - momentarily - than if you just left it in there, but you'd only be fooling yourself if you thought it would magically work itself out. For those of you still reading this far, I'm sure you've figured out that I'm not really talking about splinters.

Angry thoughts, jealous feelings and complaining can act like splinters in your mind and your soul - you may not always feel them, but whenever pressure it applied to a certain area, BINGO, the pain starts. You can try to take your mind off it and/or numb yourself through distractions like TV, sports, movies, parties, drugs, alcohol, books, fad diets, even religion, but the splinter will still remain as long as you refuse to examine the precise spot where the pain is coming from.

Only by examining you personal splinters under the Light will they become visible, and by reaching towards spirituality (meditation works best for me) you realize you hold the tweezers that can remove this tiny but pointed source of pain from your life.

Positive thinking is great, and it can truly have an antibiotic-like effect on any old wounds you have inside that need healing and protection from infections, but it's not healthy to pretend that something isn't there when it constantly continues to surface in your life.

So grab your spiritual tweezers and let the Light shine on your splinters Once they're gone, you'll wonder how you were ever able to live with them for so long in the first place.