I have a question about letting go and holding on. I recently ended a relationship with someone who I care dearly about. There is no doubt that my love for this woman is clear to the both of us. During our relationship I learned that this woman has difficulty expressing her love and appreciation. This was something she had admitted to me, and we have discussed it and it was decided that I was teaching her, how to love. I do believe that my true self had accepted her for who she was, as I believed that her true or higher self did love me enough even though she has had time being the loving person that she wants to be.

Over time towards the end of our relationship I believe that I lost touch with my higher self. I was learning more about love and my feelings and I was slowly breaking away from listening to my ego and instead I found my self listening to her. She was a very demanding lover. She knew how much I loved her and held me to that standard at all times, and expected me to be a loving man in perfect ways always. This was mounting pressure on me. I eventually found my self in fear, being afraid that I would let her down and that she would leave me. I had lost my ego catering to her, I felt I had depended on my ego previously to give me what I now know was false courage to deal with being in this type position of vulnerability.

Recently an issue accrued between us that made me very afraid and I had let fear over run my love and my ego came back with a vengeance, my ego told me that I was not receiving what I deserved, that my love for her was greater than her love for me. I felt used and abused and neglected. I felt like she had taken advantage of my kindness. I expressed all this to her in as we verbally fought and I now that emotionally hurt her. And because she has had a problem with showing her love, during and after this fight, she still could not show me her higher self that I had fallen in love with, she could not re-assure me in any way that she indeed was in love with me and faithful to our expectations of each other. She left and our relationship ended the next day after the fight.

Since then, I have been doing some real deep soul searching and I have found out so much thanks to your website and books. I wish I could take back what I had said to her, but I know I can’t. When I have spoken with her she seems very confused sad and lost. She has told me she doesn’t know if she will come back to me or not. She is afraid that I could hurt her again. She knows that I had resentment for her and doesn’t know why I let this build up. She told me that I ruined what we had and I have accepted the responsibility for all this. I don’t believe she has forgiven me. I have forgiven my self and her. I would really like to repair our relationship but it seems that she is not ready.

So what I have done during this is I’ve been trying to detach my self from the desire that I have to love her like I really do. With no control of what she might do, I feel like letting go is the only way to heal my heartache. Inside I feel like she will, one day return to me but I know that I must not wait for her because that may only hinder my growth from this experience, if she was not to return to me.

So my issue is that I’m trying to let go, but Im still feel like holding on and expressing my love to her. I have addressed my issue that I have with fear and I have written down the lessons that I have learned from all this so that I can do my best to not repeat the same mistakes. Spiritually I feel like I’m holding on because I truly believe that our love connection and experience with each other was a spiritually one. Also during my healing process, I have wondered if perhaps my feelings of not being satisfied were valid, because of her inability to show her love and appreciation to me the way that I expect. Or maybe she is not something that I need in my life right now. With her being able to admit to me that she has this issue, should I have been or should I be more understanding and compassionate to her like I was previously before I had allowed fear to interfere with my love for her?

In the midst of this break up and I am still reaching out to her and to let her know that I am here for her, but it doesn’t appear to be effective as she is now very depressed, jobless and homeless since she has left our home. Is there anything that you can recommend about trying to help someone who has a hard time displaying their love and appreciation for another person?

I am in need of some clarification regarding the dark-side/shadow aspect of human beings.  I am confused as to whether a person’s shadow side is a permanent fixture of their awareness—to be accepted and integrated—or whether it is something that is to be eventually transcended and/or dissolved through diligent meditation practice.  I seem lately to regularly encounter seemingly contradictory viewpoints on this matter where sometimes the dark/shadow side is spoken about in terms of past conditioning or accumulated stress and karma wherein the implicit understanding is that, given enough time and due diligence with meditation, one would eventually tread past their negativity and emerge into unconditional love.  Other times though it seems that the shadow is portrayed as being a permanent, inescapable fixture of the human condition (love and hate coexist always) wherein the goal is simply to acknowledge it, accept it, and learn to live with it.  If one tends to favor their positive aspects over their negative ones does that necessarily mean that they are denying and suppressing parts of themselves?  I can’t imagine not preferring love over hate.

Anyway, I can’t help but see the above two points of view as being utterly contradictory.  Do enlightened individuals really have the same dark aspects as everyone else?  If so, what is it exactly that makes them enlightened?  Or have they indeed let go of and moved beyond all negativity.

I grew up in the church and up until two years ago, I didn’t leave the house in the morning or go to sleep at night without praying to God.  I have had an awaking of sorts in the past couple of years and my idea of God has expanded.  I am grateful to have undergone this experience, but I no longer understand how to pray (as silly as it may sound).  I always prayed to God as if I were talking to a person.  Now I read about ‘affirmative prayer’ versus ‘prayers that come from lack,’ and honestly, I really wish there were a way for me to synthesize and learn to pray again.

If there is one infinite being (and everything is an infinite possibility) then why do we need Reincarnation (individual souls having experience over and over?)  We are either one infinite possibility having this experience or we are a soul having many experiences. (term soul being one continuous being).

I have changed my life  and every day I am learning and growing spiritually, I have notice that the friends I have do not interest me anymore, even my family seems to be taking second place and this makes me feel so alone I feel like I have no one, my spiritual life comes first before anything else I am so happy to be able to embrace this part of me, and it have taken full control of me, all I can think about is how I can be of service to others, I do my meditations and breathing exercises every day, I feel happy and relax and contended my life is just Blissful, can you tell me why I don’t find my friends interesting anymore and why I feel fearful at times, that maybe I am doing something wrong, I am single as well and I don’t seem to be able to attract a relationship, before my life change this was not a problem, now I am happy and found my self and working to get to know me, I am feel I am standing all alone I am 47 yrs old how should I deal with this.