Before we can experience the truth of a higher state of consciousness, before we can stand on the ground of ourselves that is the secret stuff of Reality, we are asked to quietly be who and what we are in the Now. To do this we must learn to let go of those parts of our present nature that are never quite pleased with what is. After all, doesn't it seem that we are always in some sort...
When the doctor taps your knee and it suddenly jerks, you don't get upset with your leg for jumping out of control. Why? Because in that moment, you realize your temporary jumpy experience is an involuntary physical reaction. But how do you view your emotional reactions when they start jerking you around? Not only are they hard on you, but once they're done, you're then hard...
How many of you are short fused? We'll say it in other words. How many of you have virtually no tolerance for anything outside of what you want? On a scale of 1 to 100 degrees, what is your acceptable range relative to meeting moments? Is it something like 2 to 98? Or is more like 78 to 79? That's about it, isn't it? This tiny little bandwidth, and if anything even threatens to...
The moment I feel resistance, the moment I feel that contraction inside of me, I must understand that I am being introduced to myself. I've been brought to the bear, to touch the bear! That anger, that rage, that impatience appears in us. You and I know we have these states in us. We can dress up and appear pretty and appear like we're in control of ourselves, but every last human being...
As difficult as it may be to see, always strive to remember the following truth: The way you feel about any given moment is because of what you think you know about that moment. In other words, while it may seem that you're frustrated because you want to understand your experience, the truth is, it's your present level of being that's creating your frustration as well as the..."
The instant we become aware of any negative thought or feeling wanting us to embrace its agitation - not only must we drop it on the spot, but we must also drop any familiar sense of self that has appeared with it in that same moment.
Other people do not create any disturbance we feel in the relationship. They are revealing to us in that moment the part of us that lays in the dark and waits to get disturbed so it can hide behind the cloud of war.
The next time you feel yourself starting to become frustrated, angry or scared, do your best to confirm this vital insight: Negative emotions cannot exist without having something to blame for their punishing presence. The clearer for yourself you can make this spiritual fact -- about the dualistic nature of spiritual weakness -- the better prepared you'll be to take your next step toward hig...
To begin seeing that negative states such as anger, impatience, worry, and fear have lodged themselves into the hidden corners of your heart is to discover how they have managed to win their spot.
Our task, if we want to be free human beings -- if we want a life in which we no longer carry around with us "what he did," "what she didn't do," "what never worked out" -- begins with discovering that there can be no real freedom for us until we understand the nature of the tyranny of the past that still lives within us. One of the main areas of this unchallenged dictatorship that still holds...
One of the most difficult lessons we must face in our effort to win the war within ourselves has to do with the truth about our relationship with our own negative states: they fascinate us. That's right! But, why do we value them so? The answer will surprise you. We value negative states because of the strong sense of self we get from them. This may be very difficult for us to see, but a stro...
How many times will you have that dreaded feeling that "it's all been for nothing"... even as you've "learned" from your mistakes? You may be growing in the addition of psychological information that you carry and refer to about yourself, with lots of facts why you'll never run into trouble again (you know the drill -- how it always starts with how much you see about what you didn't see before...