By Gurudevi Nirmalananda

While I was growing up, the adults around me often asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I always wanted to know, “What are my options?” They never suggested that I could get enlightened. I would like for you to know that this is one of your options, too.

The good news is that you don’t have to give up your other options while you’re working on enlightenment. You can have a home and family as well as your work and pastimes. Your actions are not what keep you from being enlightened. It’s what you think that holds you back.

Yet your actions do change as you begin to manage your mind more effectively. They become more uplifting and more altruistic. This is because anything you do is preceded by thoughts. The sages warned us about this around 3,000 years ago:

Whatever one thinks, that one does.

Tat vaachaa vadati, tat karmanaa karoti.

— Taittiriya Aranyaka 1.23.1

Where is your mind taking you? If you want different results than you’ve been getting, simply steer your mind differently. It’s easy to get motivated to do this, as using your mind the way have been means you get the results you’ve been getting. The bottom-line question is…