Each activity we undertake in life brings opportunities and challenges. Why do we begin a project or a task? At first, it is the desire to live out our fantasy, our longing for a specific outcome. We aim to complete a project, an activity, a task, or even a spiritual path. But once we truly embark on a journey, we encounter setbacks and the inherent risks of each chosen path—obstacles that may be small, medium, or large, depending on what we have created and where we are heading.

I have started to think about these setbacks as tiny punctuation marks, commas in the thousands of sentences that create the story of my life. They are little pauses, brief moments to reflect on what is happening, what stopped me from pursuing my goal, and what needs to change. Challenges prompt me to rethink my actions, motivations, and desires.

What can we learn from the events or problems that encourage us to pause? I have been reflecting on a series of recent events—and others not so recent—and I’m seeing the education that life is offering. I am being shown the path to follow, and it is up to me to take the next step. When I insist on taking another route, ignoring what life is presenting, I often stumble or even fall. My lesson is to pay attention to the gentle nudging of small occurrences, to be mindful.

All of this effort contributes to the illumination of the best path for me, where I can experience a new landscape, fresh as a beautiful spring morning. Then I say: This is it!

When we have a sense of being on the right path, we feel a lightness in our journey. This freshness of walking lightly, accepting the ups and downs of both life and the path is like writing a new story, a new chapter in our lives. It allows us to see that the obstacles are not permanent. They are simply pauses we encounter along the way, nothing more than commas in our narrative, urging us to reflect and motivating us to write the next chapter—with compassion, self-compassion, and wisdom.

My hope for us all is that we will not resist the challenges that arise, but see them as opportunities. I hope we will welcome these obstacles, these pauses, these moments of reflection. And while we do, let us practice loving-kindness toward ourselves and those around us. We are all learning.

So, take a pause—comma yourself—and allow life to gift you with its teachings. Then, you can write your new chapter and find your own spiritual path.