The dance. I got a royalty check, and it was the smallest royalty check I have ever received, and at first, I felt a flash of anger, even panic. It should not have been a surprise, royalty checks have been shrinking for a few years now, and I am a lucky writer in more ways than I can count. I am publishing four books this year and have 16 in print.

Still, that was my way of thinking, the way my mind worked for so many years. Oh My God, what happen to me now?  But I have been working hard at this, and changing, and so after the first flush of alarm, I thanked my royalty check, and was grateful for it, and for all of the other gifts that pour into my life almost every day. And the fear, and the sense of alarm and diminishment receded. That is the power of a spiritual life, as raggedy as that can be.  It is a choice, after all. And I don’t choose to think that way anymore.