According to Gill Edwards, “Darwin, Marx and Freud all saw progress at the cost of conflict, suffering of  ‘going for the burn’ , the idea is that if it doesn’t hurt, it isn’t doing us any good. ”

I grew up believing that if the antiseptic used to cleanse a wound doesn’t smart, it won’t do the cut any good. The same rule was applied to various life incidents. We were scolded harshly because it was good for us.

But we saw through our mom; she was too kind and lowing to scare us. I think we behaved not because we were scolded but more because e waned to make her happy.

In school it was slightly different. Some of the nuns had the gift of tongues for scolding. I believe the sandwich method of dealing with mistakes was not discovered yet. The nuns hardly used affirmations nor praises; the were afraid students would become proud. Thank God we grew up with strong self-esteem in spite of everything.

To paraphrase Gill Edwards, my education and social conditioning ennobled struggle and hardship. “No pain, No gain” was the mantra. Even in our prayers we lived in “the valley of tears” according to a prayer recited to the Virgin Mary.

The new spirituality according to Gill Edwards suggests that we can grow through love, joy, abundance and laughter! We can grow by learning how to create our own reality.