August 24, 2005 (from the net)
The Happiness Factor
By Remez Sasson
If you analyze people's actions, you will come to the conclusion that they all seek happiness. Every act is in fact a search for it, even if on the surface it doesn't look so. Happiness is always the main target.
Going to the movies, eating in a restaurant or going to a party, are motivated by the desire to be happy. Sometimes the movie is not interesting, the food is not good and the party is boring. Then the search goes on. Maybe the next time the search will be more successful.
If the activity is pleasing, there might be a feeling of happiness, and then this activity is sought again in order to repeat this pleasant feeling.
Who does not dream of a vacation in some fascinating location, a new car, a new house, or the ideal match? All people daydream, and some even try to make their dreams a reality. And why is that? In order to be happy.
What about people who endanger themselves by climbing steep mountains, entering unexplored caves, or diving into the deep of the ocean? They too are looking for the few moments of happiness and rapture.
A thief may steal because he loves the thrill of danger, or because he desires to have quick money to spend. He is actually looking for happiness, though in a criminal and perverted way.
The list can be endless. It is the happiness factor that is dictating the behavior of each and everyone. It is sought in many ways and forms. Sometimes though, it is sought in a selfish way, or by hurting other people through stealing or taking by force.
Of course not all actions end in happiness. The motive is happiness, but the results not always bring the coveted desire.
According to some spiritual traditions, we are spiritual beings in physical bodies. The spiritual part is always happy, or rather is happiness itself. The body covers this happiness essence, but it is there all the time. There is a constant desire to be aware of this happiness. This is the reason it is constantly sought.
No matter what activity is sought, at the moment that happiness is experienced, something happens. Whether it is the thrill of arriving to the summit of a high mountain, eating a delicious cake or winning the lottery, there is a common element that is always present.
At the peak of happiness there is a stoppage of the thinking process. There is inner silence. Worries are dropped away. There is peace. The competition or dangers are over. This may last for a brief moment or a little bit longer. In this vast peace we feel happy. It is not the object gained or the successful performance that brought this feeling. It is something internal and independent of the outside world.
Happiness is always here, but covered by thoughts, desires and fears. It is experienced when these covers disappear for a while. When fear or worry comes to an end or a desire attained, there is a temporary disappearance of these covers. The ego and personality stop moving for a while, and a great satisfaction and inner happiness is experienced.
In order to experience it on a daily basis, one has to learn to quieten the restless mind. One has to dive inside, because happiness is an inner attribute and is not in the objects or circumstances. It is in this world, but out of this world.
There is no need to search for happiness or to create it. There is no need to have all kinds of outer experiences and actions in order to feel it. On the contrary, everything has to be dropped in order to experience it.
Every technique, which helps to relax the mind and quieten the rush of thoughts will lead to happiness. Developing concentration and engagement in meditation are the main ways towards this goal.
When the ability to have a quiet mind under all circumstances is gained, one enjoys constant happiness, no matter what he is doing and where he is. This is quite attainable, but to gain this peace and happiness you need to work towards it. By making the first step today, happiness will start to fill your life.
Happiness Is Within Us
By Remez Sasson
What is happiness, and why is this incessant running after it? What does it mean to be happy? What is the difference between happiness and pleasure?
It is a hot summer day, and you feel thirsty. A friend offers you a refreshing cold glass of lemonade. How do you feel when you see the glass? How do you feel when to drink it?
Will you describe your feeling as happiness or as pleasure? I believe you will say it is a feeling of pleasure. There is a connection between these two kinds of feelings, and sometime one evokes the other, but they are not the same thing. Pleasure is more dependent on the five senses while happiness is independent of them.
Pleasure is a good feeling that comes from eating good food, watching a good movie, feeling the warm caressing rays of the sun on a winter day, enjoying a party, etc. Pleasure has to do with enjoyment through the five senses and is dependent on circumstances, objects and people.
When you are happy, minor unpleasant events usually do not disturb you. When you are unhappy, you feel as if everything is against you. You may compensate for it by eating chocolate and sweets because this gives you pleasure; yet you stay unhappy.
A person may smoke cigarettes because it gives him pleasure, yet, this does not make him happier, especially if he acknowledges the fact that it is not be good for his health.
There are people who fear that if they experience happiness, it is soon going to be taken away from them. They regard it as a temporary state and are afraid to experience it. In this way they avoid the pain that may follow when it goes away. They believe that happiness is always followed by unhappiness.
Others may go to the extreme of not seeking it at all, because they feel unworthy of it, and prefer to avoid it. There are also people who upon experiencing it, always look around, wondering wherefrom will come the blow.
The physical world is always in a state of flux. At each moment a new thing is being created, sustained, changed, transformed and then destroyed. This is the normal state of affairs and no one can change it. If we attach ourselves to a certain state, we are bound to experience unhappiness sooner or later. No state remains as it is. These are the laws of nature. When circumstances change, and the changes are not to our liking, we experience unhappiness. On the other hand, if we exercise detachment, nothing can influence our moods. Then outer events have nothing to do with our inner joy and peace of mind.
From the moment of birth there is yearning for happiness and endless race towards it. It is considered as one of the greatest positive attributes. If we analyze our actions we see that all of them are in some way or another, happiness oriented. Everyone wants to feel good and happy. When circumstances and events are to our liking we are happy, and when they are not, we feel miserable.
When do we experience this coveted state? This feeling emerges when some problem has been solved, a burden has been lifted, a fear has disappeared or a desire or ambition has been fulfilled. We also experience it at a time we acquire or receive something we wanted very much. It comes when we are assured of the love of someone dear to us, when we win a sum of money in the lottery or when we get good grades at school.
What happens at these times? The tension that has been accumulating while we were pursuing, waiting, expecting or desiring is released. There is no more any need to run after the coveted object or evade a fear. Some tension, worry or burden has been lifted. At this moment happiness appears. It is a kind of feeling that erupts from the inside.
When something happens that puts to an end or brings to a happy conclusion, a search, a worry, a fear or anything else, our minds become calm. We then have no need to think, worry or desire the object, event or circumstances. There is a kind of a mental relaxation, which makes happiness manifest.
The room of the mind was filled with desire, worry or fear. Now the room has been emptied, and the mind freed of the compulsion of thinking about them. There is freedom, a feeling of ease, inner peace and joy.
Watch your mind next time you experience happiness and see what is happening. You will find out that the mind becomes quiet, and its constant chatter stops for a while. You will see that happiness comes from the inside.
Happiness Is Inside Us And Is Attainable
On a cloudy day the clouds hide the sun, but the sun is always there. The clouds of thoughts, worries and desires cover and hide our happiness. We have to disperse them in order to experience it. Then the happiness that is inherent in the soul and is always there shines forth.
Happiness is not something far away and unattainable, and it does not depend on circumstances. Objects and events are not its causes. It is an inseparable part of our consciousness, only that as mentioned previously, it is hidden and covered from sight by our endless thoughts, desires and worries.
The experience of mystics down the ages has been that happiness is inherent in our souls; it is not something to be gained anew. All that is necessary to do is to uncover it.
If we can silence the chatter of the mind we will experience this inherent happiness. It is dependent only on one thing, the silencing of thoughts. This means that in order to experience happiness intentionally we have to make our mind silent, calm and relaxed.
What have all the mystics, yogis and saints pursued down the ages? They have not been looking for pleasure, but have been searching for inner happiness that no one could take from them no matter where they were. It is independent of outer events.
This happiness I am talking about is constant and eternal. It is our nature; only our thoughts stand in our way of experiencing it. Dispel the thoughts and you are happy.
You cannot see a treasure at the bottom of a stormy and muddy lake though it is there. Make the water still, and let the mud sink, and you see the treasure. The treasure is there whether you see it or not. So is happiness. It is always here, only covered and hidden.
Now you may ask, what one has to do in order to gain happiness? One of the key factors is detachment. Endeavor to be detached, and do not let your feelings be influenced by each little blow of the wind. If you can convince yourself to stay relaxed and calm in every situation, this will be the first step.
Activities such as learning to concentrate and control the mind, developing will power and self-discipline, practicing meditation and reading spiritual literature bring happiness, because they calm the mind.
In the East they say that if you are in the presence of a realized teacher, your thoughts slow down and you experience elation and bliss. The mind of such a teacher is completely calm and undisturbed by thoughts. It is also very powerful and causes the minds of people in his vicinity to behave similarly, as if influencing them by telepathy. The mind being calm, it stops being an obstacle to the welling of happiness.
Happiness is here, within you. Just calm your mind and stay relaxed, and you will experience it. You do not need to wait for it to come. You do not need outer circumstances and events to bring it. A calm and detached mind is the gate to true happiness. It is your decision to choose happiness.
Tips for Happiness in Daily Life
By Remez Sasson
Daily life can be made happier. It is a matter of choice. It is our attitude that makes us feel happy or unhappy. It is true, we meet all kinds of situations during the day, and some of them may not be conductive to happiness. We can choose to keep thinking about the unhappy events, and we can choose to refuse to think about them, and instead, relish the happy moments. All of us constantly go through various situations and circumstances, but we do not have to let them influence our reactions and feelings.
If we let outer events influence our moods, we become their slaves. We lose our freedom. We let our happiness be determined by outer forces. On the other hand, we can free ourselves from outer influences. We can choose to be happy, and we can do a lot to add happiness to our lives.
What is happiness? It is a feeling of inner peace and satisfaction. It is usually experienced when there are no worries, fears or obsessing thoughts, and this usually happens, when we do something we love to do or when we get, win, gain or achieve something that we value. It seems to be the outcome of positive events, but it actually comes from the inside, triggered by outer events.
For most people happiness seems fleeting, because they let changing outer circumstances affect it. One of the best ways to keep it, is by gaining inner peace through daily meditation. As the mind becomes more peaceful, it becomes easier to choose the happiness habit.
Here are a few tips for increasing happiness in daily life:
1) Endeavor to change the way you look at things. Always look at the bright side. The mind may drag you to think about negativity and difficulties. Don't let it. Look at the good and positive side of every situation.
2) Think of solutions, not problems.
3) Listen to relaxing, uplifting music.
4) Watch funny comedies that make you laugh.
5) Each day, devote some time to reading a few pages of an inspiring book or article.
6) Watch your thoughts. Whenever you catch yourself thinking negative thoughts, start thinking of pleasant things.
7) Always look at what you have done and not at what you haven't. Sometimes you may begin the day with the desire to accomplish several objectives. At the end of the day you might feel frustrated and unhappy, because you haven't been able to do all of those things.
Look at what you have done, not at what you have not been able to do. You may have accomplished a lot during the day, and yet you let yourself become frustrated, because of some small things that you did not accomplish. You have spent all day successfully carrying out many plans, and instead of feeling happy and satisfied, you look at what was not accomplished and feel unhappy. It is unfair toward yourself.
8) Each day do something good for yourself. It can be something small, such buying a book, eating something you love, watching you favorite program on TV, going to a movie, or just having a stroll on the beach.
9) Each day do at least one act to make others happy. This can be a kind word, helping your colleagues, stopping your car at the crossroad to let people cross, giving your seat in a bus to someone else, or giving a small present to someone you love. The possibilities are infinite. When you make someone happy, you become happy, and then people try to make you happy.
10) Always expect happiness.
11) Do not envy people who are happy. On the contrary, be happy for their happiness.
12) Associate with happy people, and try to learn from them to be happy. Remember, happiness is contagious.
13) Do your best to stay detached, when things do not proceed as intended and desired. Detachment will help you stay calm and control your moods and reactions. Detachment is not indifference. It is the acceptance of the good and the bad and staying balanced. Detachment has much to do with inner peace, and inner peace is conductive to happiness.
14) Smile more often.
HAPPINESS
You can be happy instantly by wanting what you already have.
from Diets Don’t Work, by Bob Schwartz
We’re not happy unless we feel like we’re growing.
Anthony Robbins
Even when manipulated into a smiling expression, people feel better; when they scowl, the whole world seems to scowl back. so put on a happy face. Pretend optimism. Simulate outgoingness. Going through the motions can trigger the emotions.
from an article in Psychology Today July/August 1993 issue, by David G Myers, PhD
For happy people, time is “filled and planned”, says Oxford University psychologist Michael Argyle. “For unhappy people time is unfilled, open an uncommitted; they postpone things and are inefficient.”
When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.
Helen Keller
Will and I could hardly wait for the morning to come to get at something that interested us. That's happiness.
Orville Wright, co-inventor of the airplane
The happy people are those who are producing something; the bored people are those who are consuming much and producing nothing.
William Randolph Inge
I'm not happy, I'm cheerful. There's a difference. A happy woman has no cares at all. A cheerful woman has cares but has learned how to deal with them.
Beverly Sills
What a man is contributes much more to his happiness than what he has, or how he is regarded by others.
Arthur Schopenhauer
Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort.
Franklin D Roosevelt
The man who is aware of himself is henceforward independent; and he is never bored, and life is only too short, and he is steeped through and through with a profound yet temperate happiness.
Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) British novelist and essayist
Always laugh when you can. It is cheap medicine.
Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet
A new life of abundant cheer is found in one way and one way only. All others lead to endless anxiety.
It is found through an awareness of its existence.
This is the entire secret. We must catch a glimpse of this fresh life for ourselves. We can start by remembering that it exists within, not without. We already possess this higher state. But we must become aware of our rich possession. This awareness will break through, with increasing force, as we dare to seek it beyond our present mental attitudes.
The Daily Guru
Shared joy is a double joy; shared sorrow is half sorrow.
Swedish proverb
‘Abraham took in strangers, and God was happy,’ came the reply. ‘Elijah disliked strangers, and God was happy. David was proud of what he was doing, and God was happy. The publican before the altar was ashamed of what he did, and God was happy. John the Baptist went out into the desert, and God was happy. Paul went to the great cities of the Roman Empire, and God was happy. How can one know what will please the Almighty? Do what your heart commands, and God will be happy.’
from The Devil and Miss Prym, by Paulo Coelho
Happiness belongs to the self-sufficient.
Aristotle
You were in paradise, but you didn’t recognise it. It’s the same with most people in this world; they seek suffering in the most joyous of places because they think they are unworthy of happiness.
from The Devil and Miss Prym, by Paulo Coelho
Recognize that to be happy, you must live the life that you truly want to live. It's your life and you are the only one who can truly determine what is right for you.
The Daily Guru
Happiness is a butterfly, which, when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.
Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) American novelist
I am powerful and I am loving.
I have much to give to this world.
I am a person of worth.
I deserve love.
I am a capable person.
My life has meaning.
My life is unfolding perfectly.
There is plenty of time.
from Dare to Connect: How to Create Confidence, Trust and Loving Relationships, by Susan Jeffers
Jesus Christ Himself said, “What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.”
Mark 11:24 – see The Holy Bible Containing the Old and New Testaments: King James Version
It's the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen.
Claude M Bristol (1891-1951) author of The Magic of Believing and Tnt the Power Within You
To make every little thing special is to grant a magical quality to your life. Once your life becomes charmed in such a way, whatever blocks you may have experienced in the past melt in the light of that inner energy pouring from your heart. From a businessman’s point of view, this is beautiful, for everything you touch turns to gold. Further, it helps you to believe in yourself. In seeing worth all around, you make your every act an affirmation of your strength.
from The Trick to Money Is Having Some!, by Stuart Wilde
Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.
Anais Nin
It is the friends you can call up at 4am that matter.
Marlene Dietrich
Next, take a look at the quality of the people who surround you. Do these people back you emotionally, or not? If they don’t back you, are they at least passive? If not, get rid of them. Sometimes it is hard to drop off your mates at the great bus stop of life. But remember, your energy will only rise in direct relationship to the number of things you are able to get rid of - not to the things you acquire. By getting rid of things, attitudes, encumbrances, and blocks of one kind or another, things fly.
from The Trick to Money Is Having Some!, by Stuart Wilde
You could tell him just a few things, and he understood the things you did not say.
Thich Nhat Hanh said of his friendship with Martin Luther King Jr
CHANGE
…a beautiful eighty-six year old woman, as we were talking about creating health through change, said gently, ‘Some folks find it easier to die than to make changes.’
from In Search of Healing: Whole-Body Healing Through the Mind-Body-Spirit Connection, by William A McGarey, MD
It is a mistake for anyone to think he has lived too long in his old, unsatisfactory ways to make the great change. If you switch on the light in a dark room, it makes no difference how long it was dark because the light will still shine. Be teachable. That is the whole secret.
The Daily Guru
The one constant in life is change.
When something seems to change in the world, the rishis said, it is really you that is changing.
from Quantum Healing: Exploring the Frontiers of Mind Body Medicine, by Deepak Chopra
“If you don’t like it, alter it, and if you can’t alter it, put up with it.”
from Sons and Lovers, by DH Lawrence
One new perception, one fresh thought, one act of surrender, one change of heart, one leap of faith, can change your life forever.
from Shift Happens!, by Robert Holden
Every experience in life changes the brain’s anatomy.
from Quantum Healing: Exploring the Frontiers of Mind Body Medicine, by Deepak Chopra
People change and forget to tell each other.
from Toys in the Attic, by Lillian Hellman
You must be the change you wish to see in the world.
Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) Indian Leader – see The Essential Gandhi: An Anthology of His Writings on His Life, Work, and Ideas and Gandhi An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments With Truth
Walk toward a new and different world. A new world exists for you just as surely as Venus exists. It is inner, truly spiritual, ruled by Reality. It awaits your discovery. March toward this higher life right now by seeing what it is not. It is not like this world. It has no confusion, no fear of loss, no loneliness, no self-destructive acts. Change yourself and it is your world! Be eager to make this inner change. Years from now you will see it as the wisest decision of your life.
The Daily Guru
“Why, why are people all balls of bitter dust? Because they won’t fall off the tree when they’re ripe. They hang on to their old positions when the position is overpast, till they become infested with little worms and dry-rot.”
from Women in Love, by DH Lawrence
We must always change, renew, rejuvenate ourselves; otherwise we harden.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) German Poet, Scientist – see Elective Affinities, Goethe's Faust (Parts 1 and 2) and The Autobiography of Goethe: Truth and Fiction Relating to My Life
If you feel a pull to make a change or a move, instead of letting the mind consume you with worry or debate, you pray on it, asking “What is my next assignment? Where do my Guides want me to live? Does this action make my soul happy?”
Peace Mother Geeta Sacred Song
When we are no longer able to change a situation… we are challenged to change ourselves.
Viktor Frankl, author of Man's Search For Meaning
We have the power to choose and to exercise that power without giving control of it to situations. We cannot change anything but our own perspective and response, yet in that changing we change the world around us by becoming an instrument of insight and awareness.
Gail Pursell Elliott, author of School Mobbing and Emotional Abuse: See It – Stop It – Prevent It With Dignity and Respect
When the first human began to read and write, he or she set the world upon a new evolution. Similarly, if a few individuals have the strength and the power to walk away from the restrictions of the world and to stand fearlessly beyond it, eventually, in some distant millennium, all mankind will also come to that same liberation.
from The Trick to Money Is Having Some!, by Stuart Wilde
CHANGE
You are today where you want to be, because of the movies you've decided to play in your head.
You can decide right now to change the movie… it's up to you!
The Daily Guru
People will suffer almost anything as long as it means they don't have to change.
Deepak Chopra, from 'Lords of Light'
Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced.
James Baldwin (1924-1987) American author and civil rights activist
To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.
Henri Bergson (1859-1941)
Your choices today determine your tomorrow and you make your life through the power of choice.
Kathy Smith (Exercise Expert) author of Kathy Smith's Moving Through Menopause: The Complete Program for Exercise, Nutrition, and Total Wellness
When you cannot make up your mind which of two evenly balanced courses of action you should take - choose the bolder.
WJ Slim
Each moment is a moment of choice and your commitments keep you true to yourself, choice by choice.
from Fearless Loving: Eight Simple Truths That Will Change the Way You Date, Mate, and Relate, by Rhonda Britten
Our lives are a sum total of the choices we have made.
Wayne Dyer, author of Real Magic: Creating Miracles in Everyday Life
That something happened to you is of no importance to anyone, not even to you. The important thing about you is what you choose to make happen – your values and choices.
Ayn Rand (1905-1982) Russian Writer and Libertarian Philosopher, author of We the Living
Decisiveness is a characteristic of high-performing men and women. Almost any decision is better than no decision at all.
Brian Tracy, American trainer, speaker, author and businessman
Let me not pray to be sheltered from dangers, but to be fearless in facing them. Let me not beg for the stilling of my pain, but for the heart to conquer it.
Rabindranath Tagore
CONVERSATION
Nothing lowers the level of conversation more than raising the voice.
Stanley Horowitz
Try in thine own experience, each; that ye speak not for one whole day unkindly of any; that ye say not a harsh word to any, about any; and see what [such] a day would bring to you…
Edgar Cayce Reading 262-106
To get your ideas across use small words, big ideas, and short sentences.
John Henry Patterson
“Can the teacher recognize insincerity in an inquirer?”
“Instantly. The pretentious inquirer gives himself away in dozens of ways of which he is unaware. They include chattering instead of listening, a nervous need to interrupt, a veiled facial expression of contempt when told the truth, a wish to argue, an attempt to flatter the teacher.”
The Daily Guru
The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.
William Arthur Ward
To get your ideas across use small words, big ideas, and short sentences.
John Henry Patterson
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
Martin Luther King, Jr (1929-1968) American civil rights leader
He may only get to keep that which he is willing to let go of.
from If You Meet the Buddha on the Road, Kill Him!, by Sheldon B Kopp
There is a time for departure even when there’s no certain place to go.
Robert Frost
The world is ruled by letting things take their course. It cannot be ruled by interfering.
Lao Tsu
Let go. Why do you cling to pain? There is nothing you can do about the wrongs of yesterday. It is not yours to judge. Why hold on to the very thing which keeps you from hope and love?
from Loving Each Other, by Leo Buscaglia
Stand up and walk out of your history.
Phil McGraw
You cannot leave something until you love it. You are tied to things you don’t like. If you hate something, you will be drawn to it again and again (even though the person or form may change) until you love it. Once you love it, you are free from it.
from Creating Money, by Sanaya Roman & Duane Packer
She looked around her. People were walking along, heads down, hurrying off to work, to school, to the employment agency, to Rue de Berne, telling themselves: ‘I can wait a little longer. I have a dream, but there’s no need to realise it today, besides, I need to earn some money.’ Of course, everyone spoke ill of her profession, but basically, it was all a question of selling her time, like everyone else. Doing things she didn’t want to do, like everyone else. Putting up with horrible people, like everyone else. Handing over her precious body and her precious soul in the name of a future that never arrived, like everyone else. Saying that she still didn’t have enough, like everyone else. Waiting just a little bit longer, like everyone else. Waiting so that she could earn just a little bit more, postponing the realisation of her dreams; she was too busy right now, she had a great opportunity ahead of her, loyal clients who were waiting for her, who could pay between three hundred and fifty and one thousand francs a session.
And for the first time in her life, despite all the good things she could buy with the money she might earn – who knows, she might only have to work another year – she decided consciously, lucidly and deliberately to let an opportunity pass her by.
from Eleven Minutes, by Paulo Coelho
The important thing is this: to be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become.
Charles Du Bos
Forgiveness means that you do not hold others responsible for your experiences.
from The Seat of the Soul, by Gary Zukav
Life is too short to waste
In critic peep or cynic bark,
Quarrel or reprimand:
‘Twill soon be dark;
Up! Mind thine own aim,
and God speed the mark!
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Forgiveness is not a moral issue. It is an energy dynamic. When most people forgive they do not want those that they forgave, to forget that they forgave and forgot. This kind of forgiveness manipulates the person who is forgiven. It is not forgiveness. It is a means of acquiring external power over another.
Forgiveness means that you do not carry the baggage of an experience. When you choose not to forgive, the experience that you do not forgive sticks with you. When you choose not to forgive, it is like agreeing to wear dark, gruesome sunglasses that distort everything, and it is you who are forced every day to look at life through those contaminated lenses because you have chosen to keep them.
from The Seat of the Soul, by Gary Zukav
In family there are no crimes beyond forgiveness.
from the film, The Prince of Tides
Forgiveness is the fragrance from the violet beneath the heel which has crushed it.
Mark Twain
If you wish to travel far and fast, travel light. Take off all your envies, jealousies, unforgiveness, selfishness, and fears.
Glenn Clark
Society often forgives the criminal; it never forgives the dreamer.
Oscar Wilde (1891)
No one should ever feel bad if Self-Observation reveals that he or she is presently on a lower level. On the contrary, we should be glad, for only this discovery makes upliftment possible. It is the foolish person who imagines he has nothing to learn. Also, remember, the Mystic Path has no moral judgments. There are no such things as good and bad, superior or inferior. We don't consider a five-year old child inferior to a child often. We simply realize that everyone is on a different level of insight and awareness.
The Daily Guru
Head-gear is a seal of protection for the two temple doors – the crown and third eye chakra. Some cultures realized the spiritual significance of this, while others continued the tradition of head-gear, justifying it as work or fashion-related. Nonetheless, whether or not societies have been conscious of the highest purpose of head-gear, throughout history both men and women have embraced the idea of covering the crown and third eye chakra.
from The Impeccable Warrior of Light, by Peace Mother Geeta Sacred Song
I don’t care whether it was once sacred or not, I HATE WHAT I DO. It’s destroying my soul, making me lose touch with myself, teaching me that pain is a reward, that money buys everything and justifies everything.
from Eleven Minutes, by Paulo Coelho
…it is certain that I am really distinct from my body, and can exist without it.
Descartes
Let your love propel your beloveds into the world - and into the full experience of who they are. In this you will have truly loved.
from Conversations With God, Book 1, by Neale Donald Walsch
Love is the mystical, unconditionally all-affirming Yes.
from Heart & Soul, by Daphne Rose Kingma
When we think with love, we are literally co-creating with God.
from A Return to Love, by Marianne Williamson
From this moment all hate is let from my veins for I have not time to hate, only time to love.
from The Greatest Salesman in the World, by Og Mandino
Love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking outward together in the same direction.
Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Love is but the discovery of ourselves in others, and the delight in the recognition.
Alexander Smith
We love purely when we release other people to be who they are.
from A Return to Love, by Marianne Williamson
And I, who looked only for God, found thee.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Love is life. And if you miss love, you miss life.
Leo Buscaglia (1924-1990) American expert on love, lecturer, author
For perfect love casteth out fear, and fear can only be from the material things that soon must fade away. And thus hold to the higher thought of eternity. For life is a continual experience.
Edgar Cayce Reading 1175-1
You don't have to earn or deserve love. You are love. Loving is never about how others treat you. It is always about how you are treating yourself.
from Fearless Loving: 8 Simple Truths That Will Change the Way You Date, Mate and Relate, by Rhonda Britten
But the love of the soul is love supreme. It is love in our spiritual essence and of our eternal belonging. In this deep love we ascend above our emotions – how we feel, what’s troubling us – and into the realm of mystical, non-material essence, the realm of the ecstatic.
For in our souls, we are all warp and weft of the one great seamless cloth, woven together of all that we have been, all that we shall be – our victories and majesties and sorrows, our tragedies and grand heroic moments. In the soul’s love we sense far within us, as if written in faint, faded ink on the ancient notebooks of our genes, that we have all been all things – both male and female, parent and child, abuser and abused, villager and king. To behold one another through this great encompassing love, love indivisible, love uncompromising, brilliant, radiant and immense, is to behold the whole of human history, the face of God, in a single human being’s eyes.
from Heart & Soul, by Daphne Rose Kingma
The best thing parents can do for their children is to love each other.
You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.
The Buddha
Make a personal decision to be in love with the most beautiful, exciting, worthy person ever – you. Then and only then will the world love you.
The Daily Guru
I will make love my greatest weapon and none on who I call can defend against its force… My love will melt all hearts liken to the sun whose rays soften the coldest day.
Og Mandino
All my life, I thought of love as some kind of voluntary enslavement. Well, that’s a lie: freedom only exists when love is present. The person who gives him or herself wholly, the person who feels freest, is the person who loves most wholeheartedly. And the person who love wholeheartedly feels free.
from Eleven Minutes, by Paulo Coelho
In love, no one can harm anyone else; we are each of us responsible for our own feelings and cannot blame someone else for what we feel.
It hurt when I lost each of the various men I fell in love with. Now, though, I am convinced that no one loses anyone, because no one owns anyone.
That is the true experience of freedom: having the most important thing in the world without owning it.
from Eleven Minutes, by Paulo Coelho
We can work on inner peace and world peace at the same time. On one hand, people have found inner peace by losing themselves in a cause larger than themselves, like the cause of world peace, because finding inner peace means coming from the self-centered life into the life centered in the good of the whole. On the other hand, one of the ways of working for world peace is to work for more inner peace, because world peace will never be stable until enough of us find inner peace to stabilize it.
Peace Pilgrim (1908-1981, American Peace Activist)
www.peacepilgrim.com
Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
To be consistent in achieving inner peace, we must perceive a world where everyone is innocent.
from Love is Letting Go of Fear, by Gerald G Jampolsky
Stop the war within yourself and you will do the world and humanity the greatest service.
Ajahn Sumanobhikku
You cannot add to the peace and good will of the world if you fail to create an atmosphere of harmony and love right where you live and work.
Thomas Dreier
All over the world people talk about prophecies. My understanding of it is, it’s the time for women to heal themselves, to support each other and then from that men are healed. Then the family is healed. And then you take it from there, and your community is healed. It’s the power of one. And it’s the women who have claimed that, after all the isolation and oppression. Women from all the different parts of the world are sharing and coming together, strengthening that seedbed of knowledge, healing, and sense of well being for the world. It’s happening all right. This is not a wish list. This is real.
Margaret Connolly
I offer you peace. I offer you love. I offer you friendship. I see your beauty. I hear your need. I feel your feelings. My wisdom flows from the Highest Source. I salute that Source in you. Let us work together for unity and love.
Mahatma Gandhi, from Prayer for Peace
Peace is the state where love abides and seeks to share itself.
Gandhi
WAITING
People wait for a multitude of things, from winning the lottery numbers to the perfect mate.
We are waiting for something to change outside ourselves that sweeps away the fear of taking a chance on something new.
When we wait, we are powerless.
When we wait, we are living in fear.
What are you waiting for? Why?
from Fearless Living, by Rhonda Britten
If you are always waiting to be, do, or have what you want, your energy becomes blocked. Your body may reflect this in excess weight or other physical problems. Express yourself directly. Set clear boundaries with other people and do what you need to do to take good care of yourself. Energy will then move freely through your body and this circulation will dissolve any excess weight. The more you are willing to be yourself, the less you’ll need to use food as a substitute nurturer. You will be receiving the natural nurturing of the universe.
from Reflections in the Light, by Shakti Gawain
In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.
Albert Camus
Let your hook be always cast; in the pool where you least expect it, there will be a fish.
Ovid
Hesitation is based on our desire to make the right decision. When we hesitate, we must ask ourselves: “Am I hesitating because I am afraid to be wrong? Or am I hesitating because my intuition is telling me to slow down?”
There is a big difference.
The first is based in fear, the second in fearlessness.
from Fearless Living, by Rhonda Britten
Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.
Mother Teresa (1910-1997) Albanian missionary
AUTHENTICITY
Honesty is when there is harmony in what you think, say, and do.
from Love Is The Answer, by Gerald G Jampolsky
The universe works on a need-to-know basis; when we ask we are answered.
from Ask Your Angels, by Alma Daniel, Timothy Wyllie, Andrew Ramer
Everything we see is but a mirror of what we are.
from Goodbye to Guilt, by Gerald G Jampolsky
The universe will pay you to be yourself and do what you really love.
Shakti Gawain, author of Creative Visualization: Use the Power of Your Imagination to Create What You Want in Your Life, Living in the Light: A Guide to Personal and Planetary
Transformation and Reflections in the Light: Daily Thoughts and Affirmations
There are many who are living far below their possibilities because they are continually handing over their individualities to others. Do you want to be a power in the world? Then be yourself. Be true to the highest within your soul and then allow yourself to be governed by no customs or conventionalities or arbitrary man-made rules that are not founded on principle.
Ralph Waldo Trine, author of In Tune With the Infinite and The Greatest Thing Ever Known – 1898
Don’t compromise yourself. You are all you’ve got.
Janis Joplin – see Scars of Sweet Paradise: The Life and Times of Janis Joplin
Being our Self is the wisest philosophy, the bravest action, the kindest consideration and the greatest act of healing imaginable.
from Living Wonderfully, by Robert Holden
To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.
from Hamlet, by William Shakespeare
Stop trying to figure out what is ‘best’ for you (how you can win the most, lose the least, get what you want) and start going with what feels like Who You Are.
from Conversations with God, Book 2, by Neale Donald Walsch>
Integrity is that congruence between our inner and outer worlds.
from Where Do I Go From Here? An Inspirational Guide To Making Authentic Career and Life Choices, by Dr Kenneth C Ruge
You can preach a better sermon with your life than with your lips.
Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774) Irish Writer, author of She Stoops to Conquer
Will today be the day you decide once and for all to make your life consistent with the quality of your spirit? Then start by proclaiming, “This is what I am. This is what my life is about. And this is what I’m going to do. Nothing will stop me from achieving my destiny. I will not be denied!”
from Awaken the Giant Within, by Anthony Robbins
To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end in life.
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) author of Treasure Island
No matter what your work, let it be your own. No matter what your occupation, let what you are doing be organic. Let it be in your bones. In this way, you will open the door by which the affluence of heaven and earth shall stream into you.
Ralph Waldo Emerson – see The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson and The Spiritual Emerson: Essential Writings by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Dare to declare who you are. It is not far from the shores of silence to the boundaries of speech. The path is not long, but the way is deep. You must not only walk there, you must be prepared to leap.
Hildegard Von Bingen – see Hildegard Von Bingen's Mystical Visions: Translated from Scivias and Selected Writings: Hildegard of Bingen
The easiest thing to be in the world is you. The most difficult thing to be is what other people want you to be. Don't let them put you in that position.
Leo Buscaglia
Never so act, in any manner, in any inclination, that there may ever be an experience of regret within self. Let the moves and the discourteousness, the unkindness, all come from the other. Better to be abased … and have the peace within! … act ever in the way ye would like to be acted toward. No matter what others say or even do, do as ye would be done by; and then the peace that has been promised is indeed thine own.
Edgar Cayce Reading 1183-3 – see Twelve Lessons in Personal Spirituality: An Overview of the Edgar Cayce Readings on Personal Transformation
To aim at the best and to remain essentially ourselves is one and the same thing.
Janet Erskine Stuart
Seek out that particular mental attribute which makes you feel most deeply and vitally alive, along with which comes the inner voice which says, "This is the real me," and when you have found that attitude, follow it.
William James (1842-1909) American psychologist and author
To be nobody-but-yourself – in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you somebody else – means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.
ee cummings (1894-1962) American poet and author
Confidence on the outside begins by living with integrity on the inside.
Brian Tracy
Accept no one's definition of your life, but define yourself.
Harvey Fierstein
When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.
Lao Tzu
If I could choose
Freely in that great treasure-house
Anything from any shelf,
I would give you back yourself,
And power to discriminate
What you and and want it not too late.
- Edward Thomas
The purpose of life, after all, is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.
Eleanor Roosevelt
Where your talents and the needs of the world cross, there lies your vocation.
Aristotle
To the extent that your work takes into account the needs of the world, it will be menaingful; to the extent that through it you express your unique talents, it will be joyful.
from How to Find the Work You Love, by Laurence G Boldt
Where your deep gladness meets with the deep hunger of the world, there you will find a further calling.
Frederick Buechner
My mission is far greater. It is to make peace with the purpose assigned to my soul, to fully accept the spiritual side of my being.
from Soul Purpose, by Jackee Holder
Your soul doesn’t care what you do for a living - and when your life is over, neither will you. Your soul cares only about what you’re being while you’re doing whatever you’re doing.
from Conversations with God, Book 1, by Neale Donald Walsch
Those whose purpose does not match yours are not wrong; they have their mission, and finding their own purposeful way may involve many detours and acts that seem destructive.
from Real Magic, by Dr Wayne W Dyer
This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.
George Bernard Shaw
To love what you do and feel that it matters - how could anything be more fun?
Katherine Graham
“God, please use me” is the most powerful affirmation we can say for an abundant career. It is the miracle-worker’s prayer. Everybody wants a great job. Accept that it’s already been given you. The fact that you’re alive means a function has been assigned to you: open your heart to everyone and everything. That way you’re a vessel of God. Don’t worry about what to say or what to do. He’ll let you know.
from A Return to Love, by Marianne Williamson
When you are living on purpose, giving of yourself in a blissful way, your personality will reflect that bliss. You will manifest the necessary talent and intellect to fulfill your purpose. It will not require a struggle or a detailed worksheet of goals and objectives. Your ability to manifest changes in your own personhood is already intact. You are not going to acquire intelligence, talent, skills and confidence from outside of yourself. These are components that already reside within you. What you want to do is shift to a purposeful state, a state in which you feel inspired and significant. When this is your state of mind, then all you need in the way of personality characteristics will surface.
from Real Magic, by Dr Wayne W Dyer
I don't believe people are looking for the meaning of life as much as they are looking for the experience of being alive.
Joseph Campbell
Each soul's entrance into material consciousness should represent to the entity the awareness that a universal consciousness, God, is aware of the entity's purposes, the entity's aims. And this consciousness represents an opportunity for the entity, in the material experience, to become a channel to glorify that purpose, that cause.
Edgar Cayce Reading 2622-1
I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble.
Helen Keller (1880-1968) American author and lecturer
Somewhere in your life there will be an overriding theme to your quest – some part of your desire that cannot be denied without a terrible cost to the very essence of what you are. Are you going to ignore it, or do you have the courage of your commitment and the confidence to demand that life, humanity, or circumstances give you what you want, with no other excuse, reason or apology other than that you demand it?
from The Trick to Money Is Having Some!, by Stuart Wilde
You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.
Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) 28th US President
If you aren't clear on what you want, then your mind will be clouded with shoulds. Thus, you will have more hurdles to surmount to get what you want. Even when you do work that you enjoy or love, you may still have that nagging feeling that you're not doing what you should be doing based on family, culture, community, society, peers and teachers.
When you take the time to clarify what you want, however, you're more likely to clearly ask for it and get it. In the end, the only thing you "should" be doing is whatever gives you the greatest amount of passion!
The Daily Guru
To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end in life.
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) Scottish author and poet
Employment gives health, sobriety, and morals. Constant employment and well-paid labor produce general prosperity, content, and cheerfulness.
Daniel Webster
If you do not feel yourself growing in your work and your life broadening and deepening, if your task is not a perpetual tonic to you, you have not found your place.
Orison Swett Marden (1850-1924) Founder of Success Magazine
When you heed the calling of your heart, you are following your purpose. Having purpose in your life gives you the courage to do the things you are meant to do. When you are purpose driven, you have learned to listen to your intutition and never let no get in your way.
Rhonda Britten, excerpt from "Change Your Life in 30 Days"
You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.
Woodrow Wilson
Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.
George Bernard Shaw
Your prime purpose on earth is to help one another. If you can't help one another at least don't hurt one another.
Dalai Lama
If you ask me what I came to do in this world, I, an artist, will answer, 'I am here to live out loud'.
Emile Zola
