You are used to taking life as it comes

"You are used to taking life as it comes, never suspecting that

events are a substance you need to prepare, just as you prepare

food by cooking it and adding certain ingredients to it – oil,

vinegar, salt, pepper, and so on. And, in the same way, you do

not eat fish as they are, straight from the sea, or vegetables as

they are, straight from the earth.

So cooking is the art of making all kinds of produce edible,

delicious even, which would otherwise be indigestible or bland if

you did not take care to clean them, cook them and season them.

And it is the same with happiness. Happiness is the result of a

whole process of inner cooking. Life’s good moments do not

present themselves spontaneously, and you do not pick them the

way you pick a ripe fruit from the tree on your way by. You must

learn to work on each situation, particularly on the difficult,

painful ones, adding elements from your spirit and your soul –

elements of divine wisdom and love."

Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov