Equality is a state of mind. When we value our own self-worth, we are comfortable with the achievements and the well-being of our friends and associates.

 The symptoms of a punctured ego occur when we criticize others and make demands we don't want to fulfill ourselves.

Most of us experience wavering self-confidence on occasion.

It may haunt us when a big task faces us. Or it may visit us when we least expect it.

 It's a facet of the human condition to sometimes lack self-assurance.

At times we need to remember that life is purposeful, and the events involving us are by design.

Almost daily we'll face situations we fear are more than we can handle, and we'll hope to pass the task off to another.

It's well for us to remember that we're never given a task for which we're not prepared. Nor should we pass on to others those activities we need to experience personally if our growth is to be complete.

We should be thankful we can never reach complete serenity. If we could, we would never have the need to improve ourselves.

 We would stop growing, because there would be no reason to learn any more than we already know, and we would become bored.

Even the things which seem so serene in nature usually contain a struggle within.

 A lake, with a swan gliding slowly across it, seems a perfect picture of serenity.

But, unseen below the surface, fish, turtles, and frogs struggle each day for survival. 

The important thing is to accept the struggles as a part of the beauty of life, not as blemishes on it.