Whatever it is that we wish to let go of must be something from which we wish to be free. This may be unpleasant or troubling relationships, a problem-filled past or fearful future, any form of addiction, recent painful events -- or any of those disturbing thoughts and feelings about these same troubling things that we no longer want in our lives. The truth is that troubles like these come wi...

What does it feel like to deny something? Is it a good feeling, or a bad feeling? We all know that it is a bad feeling. When something happens that we do not want, and we then deny the event, it feels bad. On the other hand, what does it feel like to want something when we envision something positive? We can easily see that when we are envisioning what we want, we feel good! In order to unders...

If we see how much of our unhappiness is self-created, through being inattentive to our own interior life, then accordingly, we can learn to re-direct our attention, placing it where we will within what is right and bright. But, there is only one way to realize this reversal: we must work to see how wrongly directed attention works against us. Perhaps a thought pops into your mind about a pr...

Here is an exercise to help you take the first step up and away from self-punishing feelings. This exercise is called: Is This What I Really Want? You do not have to accept any inner condition that compromises your happiness. Read over the next sentence several times before proceeding further. It is never right to feel wrong no matter how right you may think you are to be feeling that wa...

The principle longing we have as human beings is to be ourselves. But this essential longing is always interfered with by something. Here is the essence of the problem: you can never be yourself and protect yourself at the same time. Why? Personality has two principle functions: procurement, which is getting what I desire, and protection, which involves keeping things away from me that threat...

So much is said today about the nature of a fearless life. In this podcast we're going to examine the authentic nature of a Fearless Life. There is indeed One Supreme Principle that is the governing force behind fearlessness. What happens to us when we face adverse circumstances? when troubles and fears knock on the door? when we find ourselves in hot water? Most of the time, after a crisis o...

Nothing is more discontented than our lower nature, the false self. It is always unhappy with one thing or another. If there is one weed in a field of roses, you can bet that is what it will see. Since it has no real life of its own, it must endlessly create stimulating thoughts and feelings of one kind or another in order to give it the sensations of being alive. Like Sisyphus, the king of an...

Have you ever wondered why it's said, "Silence is Golden?" Hidden in these words is a secret instruction by which a person can find a peace that passes all understanding. Silence is golden because, for the individual who is willing to remain in that silence with his or her own suffering, that person finds spiritual gold. The suffering in silence is the purification of the soul and the suffe...

Isn't it true that the minute something happens, there is a reaction that takes place to the event, and the reaction forms as a stimulus by which we then want to figure out how to resolve this pain that we're in, fix the person, or change the condition so that the disturbance we're feeling will go away? This means that in the moment where there is disturbance, we are meeting the disturbance w...

Two men stroll down a leaf-covered wood-lot path on a clear, brisk Autumn morning. Jeff and Mark have been friends for years. They enjoy their Saturday morning walks and talks together. Yet, something's different about Mark today. Jeff senses there's a problem. But he says nothing. Two minutes later Mark stops walking, and turns to Jeff. His eyes are searching for a place to begin. Then, foll...

How many times in a day do we find ourselves having gone after something that we wanted, only to find ourselves "gotten" or "done in" by what we have reached for? Then what happens? The crying, complaining, bitterness, blaming starts: "Oh, why is this happening to me? This isn't right!" We can't see how we actually participated in producing the moment in which we find ourselves compromised, an...

Any human being who has to hold himself together is someone who is ready to fall apart. Trying to hold yourself together is a terrible way to go through life. Our task is to prove this to ourselves. The fears of falling apart can never be quieted by adding more pieces to your self, such as success or the hopes of success. With this approach to life you wear out faster, because you now have eve...