One indication of making real effort, based on a true spiritual intention, is that even when we fail (with it), whatever regret we may have over our revealed weakness is tempered by an equal measure of realizing how important it is that we never forget what has just happened to us, within us; for now we have seen
and experienced, first hand, not just a lower nature whose will determines our daily choices, but we’ve also seen and realized its power to make us to do the things we would not do… had we our own will.