Any time we pretend to be something we're not, we do so out of fear that without that "persona" to protect us -- to make that impression we want -- we won't get what we want. This whole way of thinking is secret self-sabotage. It sinks us in our personal and business relationships as surely as a torpedo wrecks the ship it strikes. Learning how to stop this self-sinking is our focus here. The...

You must learn to stop thinking in terms of beginnings and endings, successes and failures, and begin to treat everything in your life as a learning experience instead of a proving one.

It is never the people we are around that cause us negative reactions. These reactions arise out of what we secretly want from people.

Every time we accept a negative state we compromise ourselves and increase the level of conflict for ourselves and everyone we meet.

Time and time again, we come to the same spiritual lesson: no one can give us that which can only be found within our Self.

There is a hidden part of you that knows, without thinking about it, how to always be perfectly relaxed, carefree, and in command. This higher intellectual and emotional intelligence is to your present thoughts and feelings as is the mighty oak to its own spreading branches. Once you come into contact with its perfect strength and power, you'll wonder how you ever lived without it. Great mas...

We are always measuring ourselves in an attempt to confirm to ourselves that our lives have value. It is a fact that no creation is more or less valuable than anything else that is created. Is the tree more valuable than the ground from out of which it grows? No, in fact it is impossible to separate the tree from the ground. In one respect, all things are created equal, which means that all th...

The chief cause of why our lives so often wind up in the hands of others is not that they are superior or that the world is too strong for us, but that we don't want to face the uncertainty and aloneness we think we are too weak to bear. ~~~ The conscious refusal to go along with what your weakness wants you to do to escape its uncertainty is what invokes and finally delivers real inner co...

It is our fear of being alone and in doubt, of wanting to feel certain that what we are doing is right, that compels us to seek the approval of others. So this tells us that the chief cause of why our lives so often wind up in the hands of others is not that they are superior or that the world is too strong for us, but that we don't want to face the uncertainty and aloneness we think we are to...

We're often led to act against ourselves by an undetected weakness that goes before us -- trying to pass itself off to others -- as a strength. In effect, we pretend to be something we're not -- a commonly accepted behavior these days. But any time we feign anything, we do so out of fear that without that "persona" to protect us -- to make that impression we want -- we won't get what we want.

There are parts of us that seek the approval of other people. And the degree to which we seek the approval of another is the degree to which we are owned by that person. But this also applies inwardly, as we seek approval from what we call "ourselves." To be more specific, we actually seek approval from "our" negative states. For example, we constantly ask the state of fear whether or not it...

Whenever we consent to, or otherwise agree with anyone's dark assessment of his or her life, we are telling this person, "Yes, that is true (about you). No doubt life couldn't be any other way; after all . . . what else can you do?" In these sentiments is hidden a secret message that effectively says: "Sure . . . I understand the prison you are in and -- given your conditions -- it's only logi...