When you don't -- when you consciously won't -- express some negative state, you are literally asking for awareness of a higher self. Here's why... As you don't express that state, you become conscious of yourself as the ground upon which it is breaking as well as the presence of that visiting state. In this moment of new awareness there is something there inside of you, with you...

When you don't -- when you consciously won't -- express some negative state, you are literally asking for awareness of a higher self.

Negative states are not mandatory; believe it or not, they are voluntary! Proving this to ourselves is the first step in walking out of the psychological prison created by our current misperception of reality. Imagine for a moment you're driving home from work, and you've just come from having a pretty rough day at the office. As you drive along, your eyes see the road before you, but your...

Meekly submitting to any negative emotion in the hopes it will run its course and leave us alone just invites it to subjugate us again.

Here is a particularly vital idea for those of us who are tired of finding ourselves a surprised victim of our own actions: in this world of ours response is request. We can slightly enlarge this idea by restating it this way: the way you respond to life is also a request you make to it. See how the next few examples prove this important discovery: Someone walks...

When we are dominated by any negativity, be it some consuming fear or heated anger, we may think we are in command of ourselves as we rush to judgment or lash out at the world, but a simple question reveals another reality. Who, in his or her right mind, purposely sets themselves on fire? The answer is obvious. No one deliberately defeats one's own best self-interests. This much we all realize...

It always seems that in the face of any crisis the best and the worst of humanity is revealed for all to see. On one hand there are thousands who suddenly become aware (perhaps for the first time) of the pain and loss others feel and, foregoing personal interest, dive into the challenging waters of self-sacrifice and other charitable works of selflessness. At the same time these crises -- esp...

Each day we hear a knock on our psychological door, and when we open it a pushy person enters and begins to bark out orders: "Worry about this." "Remember and regret that." "Work harder!" Is it little wonder we experience only the most fleeting feelings of love, kindness or relaxation? We are all the time being pushed along by something that calls itself an authority, and without ever questi...

At all times everything, everywhere, is unfolding as it must. Getting stressed and struggling to change the outcome of any past event is like arguing with an echo to make it see your point of view. In down-to-earth terms, to resent the person who cuts you off in traffic does nothing to change either that scary moment now passed, or the sleeping nature of...

Within each of us, in our hearts and in our minds, there lives a special kind of light. In truth, it is everywhere. But, instead of seeing the beautiful stillness -- the source of that which reveals the movement of passing thoughts and feelings -- we grab onto each thought that passes through it. Why would we do this? We are close to the discovery of a great truth. It is not the real you, no...

As we all know, there are trying times when states of discouragement literally dog us -- following us around as if they're waiting for us to fall down, never to rise again. On these days, our own lackluster emotions are hounded by thoughts barking at us that nothing is right with our lives. Sound familiar? On these same days, even our smallest wish to part ways with these painful states gets p...

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...