Looking at life through the eyes of resistance is not unlike looking at our own reflection in a pool of troubled waters; everything gets distorted. In fact, when seeing our lives through the narrow bars of some unwanted state, nothing is the way we see it.

For the majority of us, what we call being renewed has nothing to do with what is real renewal. Mostly what we feel as renewal is when some idea or a hope that we have gets fulfilled, filling us in turn with a sense of excitement; and then, in that feeling of being full of ourselves, comes a certain kind of pleasure that we take as being the same as self-renewal in this life.

What is behind the fear of unwanted change? The uninvestigated mind says that I'm going to sustain a loss: "he's going away," "the business is slipping," etc. The fear of loss is connected in our mind with the image of what had previously given us the feeling of succeeding. So now here's reality, and it's pretty different than our image of what should be, and we'd rather live with the image...

Just as the sun rises each morning to dismiss the twelve hours of darkness that came before, so the appearance of spring signals a similar moment - only in a greater scale of time; for with the dawn of the spring, the many dark months of winter must loose their collective grip, giving way to a gently increased measure of light and warmth that stirs the earth from its slumber..."

Life will always give you something greater than what it's asked you for, providing you're willing to let go of that part of yourself that, for fear of the new, favors what's old.

Since real life renews itself every microsecond, then whatever moment our mind keeps pointing to from our past can't possibly be the real reason for our present pain.

A true human being is a "feeling" human being, not a "thinking" human being. Real life is an impersonal, complete feeling. We live in a stream of divine energy, and there is a difference between trying to be alive through thinking -- which produces the sensation of life -- and knowing that you are alive.

We tell ourselves that we want a new life; in our minds we see ourselves reclaiming our right to live without limitations. We see ourselves walking away from destructive relationships and letting go of negative thoughts and feelings. And this is the very problem. We talk to ourselves about a fresh start and even plan the path we will take when things get right... but that's it. We think, but...

If you continue living as you presently are -- as an outer-oriented person -- you will be doomed to re-create your life the way it has always been.

You can't change the kind of person you are later. There is no later. It's always now or never. You can't be kind later. And you can't learn later. Choose to change now, and that moment will never come for you to worry about how to be better next time. Why? Because your conscious choice for real change in the present moment automatically cancels the need for a better you in a better future...

If we're fortunate, there comes a certain point when we just know that we can no longer afford to refuse what we know we see about ourselves.

In this short talk, Guy Finley talks about how we would rather hold onto old convictions that are connected to images that we have of ourselves rather than allow natural changes to take place as they are intended.