That which aches most is not necessarily the most important.

When you take stock of your life, certain parts will likely satisfy you, and others will leave you wanting. Your connection to the divine, your friendships, your romantic relationship, your family, your career path, your physical health, your finances, your hobbies and interests…you were hopefully able to make some of these play out the way you’d always hoped, but surely there are some that are a great disappointment.

And the greatest of those unrealized dreams will ache most terribly. We may yet hold out hope for their eventual fulfillment, or despair at their permanent loss, but either way they leave a painful wound in the soul.

But, of course, if we did have those missing dreams realized, but lost other dreams that we already have, then those new lost parts would ache instead. And they might ache even more, because they might be even more essential to our soul. One of the great mistakes that people make is to sacrifice that which is higher to try and soothe the aching of that which is lower. Or they do the inverse, clutching to the lower fulfillment, at the expense of achieving the higher.

You must understand the hierarchy of the soul. The elements that matter most. Accept that some aching is inevitable and be wise in what you are willing bargain to fix it. Do not sacrifice that which is higher for what is lower. Do not hold onto that which is lower at the expense of what’s higher.