When we learn new behaviors and break through to higher levels of consciousness and love, we can fulfill the deeper spiritual hunger within.

I learned to be with myself rather than avoiding myself with limiting habits I started to be aware of my feelings more, rather than numb them.

When not deeply engaged in creative activities, or numbed by the TV, I felt empty and hungry. My heart hurt... I often felt hollow or as if I were some kind of wispy ghost, barely existing.

Soft addictions are an alluring, seductive aspect of our culture - they are easy to attain and socially acceptable, they are even encouraged in many cases. Yet they are lethal to the spirit.

We are hungry for more if we do not consciously pursue the More, we create less for ourselves and make it more difficult to experience More in life.

Now that I know that each star has its path, each bird is finally feathered and grown in the unbroken shell, each tree in the seed, each song in the life laid down - is the night sky any less strange should my glance less follow the flight should the pen shake less in my hand.

As we get past our superficial material wants and instant gratification we connect to a deeper part of ourselves, as well as to others, and the universe.

We've observed that people who stall in their personal growth work often have counterproductive soft addictions that stand in their way of growth and having the life they say they want. It can be a simple thing, such as watching TV instead of finishing a project.

Wisdom can see the red, the rose, the stained and sculptured curve of grey, the charcoal scars of fire, and see around that living tower of tree the hermit tatters of old bark split down and strip to end the season and can be quiet and not look for reasons past the edge of reason.

That impulse I think is a form of love. Poetry is something that comes to you, rather than your having to work out its form beforehand.

Only after I faced the unhappiness of my first marriage did I start on the path of personal growth.