The gradual realization that you're engaged in a conversation with a level of mind that's set against itself... is the same as being released from its pain.
Access over 500+ Hrs of Basic Content for as low as $4.97/month!
Sign up today!Select Category
Browse from A-Z
Go Deeper!
Make self-realization part of your daily life – become an aspirant and join Life of Learning’s online community.
You'll gain access to:Click for Quick Inspiration!
Welcome to Life of Learning's Online Wisdom School
Access an In-Depth, Multi-Media Resource of Higher Wisdom, Online or On-the-Go!
Sign up today!You need an active subscription to enjoy more access.
Subscribe to unlock more content.
Access Over 500+ Hours of Premium Content Today! Try it Completely RISK FREE for 30 days!
Enlightening articles by Guy Finley on a wide range of topics address practical life issues and deepen your spiritual understanding.
Short but powerful quotes by Guy Finley will inspire you throughout your day.
Heartfelt inner-life questions from people around the world, and Guy’s enlightening answers, will shed light on your own issues.
Read Guy’s newest insights as he jots them down, spontaneous and uncensored.
Watch or listen to the specific talk we will all be discussing during this week’s Online Study Group meeting.
If you have a few minutes, and want a burst of enlightenment, watch or listen to these brief talks by Guy, filled with concentrated wisdom.
Hearing Guy interact with an interviewer is a delight. Listen as he makes deep spiritual principles easy to understand.
Be encouraged by hearing fellow members share their experiences and discoveries as they bring higher ideas into their daily lives.
The Life of Learning singers and instrumentalists perform beautiful music that will inspire and uplift you.
Join us for exclusive live broadcasts of select Guy Finley talks.
Start your day off right with a nugget of wisdom that can transform your experience with everything you do and everyone you meet.
Inner-life exercises and special writings deepen your understanding.
Longtime local members speak for 10 to 15 minutes on a special topic. Hear the explorations and discoveries of others on the inner journey.
Dive deep into a subject on your own! Work at your own pace with a series of talks by Guy on topics critical to your inner development.
Catch Guy Finley’s weekly message that focuses on spiritual and personal breakthroughs. This is updated weekly and is available in video, audio and text.
Join a lively online discussion with other members each week of “This Week’s Topic” – a new Guy Finley talk selected for in-depth study.
You are not alone on the inner journey. Listen to lively, weekly online discussions between members.
Every Saturday Guy leads an open discussion. Local members share their discoveries, and Guy’s comments deepen everyone’s understanding.
Guy regularly holds open Q&A sessions. Often members of our global community send in questions, or speak directly to Guy online.
Access to all our private Facebook updates, student Facebook discussions, and our LIVE Saturday lunch roundtable discussions.
This member forum is where you can write in your observations and experiences, and receive feedback from fellow members. Read-only access for Free and Basic members. Full access for Premium & All Access members.
Enlightening articles by Guy Finley on a wide range of topics address practical life issues and deepen your spiritual understanding.
Short but powerful quotes by Guy Finley will inspire you throughout your day.
Heartfelt inner-life questions from people around the world, and Guy’s enlightening answers, will shed light on your own issues.
Read Guy’s newest insights as he jots them down, spontaneous and uncensored.
Watch or listen to the specific talk we will all be discussing during this week’s Online Study Group meeting.
If you have a few minutes, and want a burst of enlightenment, watch or listen to these brief talks by Guy, filled with concentrated wisdom.
Hearing Guy interact with an interviewer is a delight. Listen as he makes deep spiritual principles easy to understand.
Be encouraged by hearing fellow members share their experiences and discoveries as they bring higher ideas into their daily lives.
The Life of Learning singers and instrumentalists perform beautiful music that will inspire and uplift you.
Join us for exclusive live broadcasts of select Guy Finley talks.
Start your day off right with a nugget of wisdom that can transform your experience with everything you do and everyone you meet.
Inner-life exercises and special writings deepen your understanding.
Longtime local members speak for 10 to 15 minutes on a special topic. Hear the explorations and discoveries of others on the inner journey.
Dive deep into a subject on your own! Work at your own pace with a series of talks by Guy on topics critical to your inner development.
Catch Guy Finley’s weekly message that focuses on spiritual and personal breakthroughs. This is updated weekly and is available in video, audio and text.
Join a lively online discussion with other members each week of “This Week’s Topic” – a new Guy Finley talk selected for in-depth study.
You are not alone on the inner journey. Listen to lively, weekly online discussions between members.
Every Saturday Guy leads an open discussion. Local members share their discoveries, and Guy’s comments deepen everyone’s understanding.
Guy regularly holds open Q&A sessions. Often members of our global community send in questions, or speak directly to Guy online.
Access to all our private Facebook updates, student Facebook discussions, and our LIVE Saturday lunch roundtable discussions.
This member forum is where you can write in your observations and experiences, and receive feedback from fellow members. Read-only access for Free and Basic members. Full access for Premium & All Access members.
You need a membership to access this content.
You need a membership to access this content.
You need a membership to access this content.
You need an membership to access this content.
Pick a Plan and Sign up Today!
Access 500+ hours of Basic Content for as low as $4.97/month!
Sign up today!You can find softcover and hardcover books in our store. Many of Guy’s works are also available as eBooks.
Shop BooksListen to Guy’s talks on CD or MP3. Some of his books are also available as audiobooks.
Shop AudioWatch Guy on DVD or MP4 as he presents talks on a wide array of topics related to your spiritual discovery.
Shop VideoOur eCourses focus on specific topics, building your understanding through a series of related talks. Most eCourses include MP3 audio and MP4 video formats you can play online.
Shop eCoursesThe gradual realization that you're engaged in a conversation with a level of mind that's set against itself... is the same as being released from its pain.
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 mind is in the past. It's very busy running and then re-running a few of the day's unpleasant events, much like an unattended slideshow cycling through the same few images over and over again. You relive that painful stab of some thoughtless remark someone cruelly blurted out, or the embarrassment of that stupid comment you made without thinking.
All we need to see to walk out of this darkened theatre of unhappy thoughts is right before our eyes: the more we think, the more we sink! Instead of achieving the freedom we imagine through this struggle, we find ourselves further entangled in the dark web of our own imagination!
In moments such as these our lives and our choices are not our own; they are literally the property of a mind that is asleep to its own operations. Its unique "blindness" is that it's busy showing itself the very images that it doesn't want to look at! This means the more desperately the mind struggles to escape the conflict it feels, the less it's able to realize that its real struggle is with itself--and not with the world that it blames for its conflicted condition.
Breaking free of this interior web of thought can't happen by pulling on the individual strands of thought that hold us there. In the end, it is awareness of our actual dilemma that releases us from it. By its light we are empowered to see the truth about our "thought self" and the false sense of life it weaves for itself by thinking about itself: its world is not the same as ours.
Like the swan that mistook itself to be an ugly duckling until it caught a glimpse of its own graceful reflection in still waters, we can open our interior eyes and see that the world of thought is not the home of our True Self. This practice is called self-observation. It is the "alpha and the omega" of a life without limits because through it we realize that who we really are cannot be confined by anything, let alone a cage of thought.
Learning to observe our self begins with one simple but deliberate act of attention on our part. As many times a day as we can remember to do it, we want to first come awake to whatever activity is running through our own mind and then simply, quietly, take a single step back from our own thoughts. We watch our own thinking--its movement and character--instead of allowing ourselves to be drawn onto its stage and into its drama.
Instead of reacting to these thoughts and feelings as they pass through us, pulling us into their world as they do, we release them as they are being formed. In other words, we are neither for, nor against, any thought with any other thought. And should we find ourselves sinking into the web of some needless negative thinking, then we need only step back and watch that event. Although thought is sticky stuff, please know--in spite of appearances--release is immediate! So, we must stick with our new intention to "see" our way free until we know the truth of it in the moment.
Comments (0)
<p>Do you ever suffer from anxiety? No, that's not a trick question. And if you're willing to agree the answer is ""yes,"" here's something you should know: You're not alone! I'm about to give you some surprising facts, so please bear with me for just a few minutes. Then I'll give you the startling solution to the problem of anxiety that most people will never learn, but that you can use...</p>
Starting at $3.99
<p>You have an unlimited storehouse of untapped energy lying dormant in your own heart and mind. It is the secret source of all that is wise, loving, timeless, and truly you. To touch this vibrant force of Life is to be lifted above any limitation... given the solution to any painful problem... and gifted with a new whole way to look at a life whose beauty never fails to amaze you...</p>
Starting at $9.99
<p>Immerse yourself in the atmosphere of a Living Light whose power it is to dispel any dark, or otherwise fearful thought or feeling. Whether it's your heart's desire to realize a deeper, more meaningful relationship with the Divine, or because you sense the time has come for you to transcend some painful self- limiting state-of-self, you can be sure you will receive all the insights and life-c...</p>
Starting at $24.95
Every sincere seeker experiences dark times on the Path. Loneliness, hopelessness, false certainty, discouragement -- when we're in the grip of these dark states the Light often seems far away. Don't despair! Once you learn the special technique described inside this power-packed eBooklet, you will find new energy and understanding to expose these unwelcome visitors and banish them for...
Starting at $1.25
Tonight, millions of men and women will climb into bed struggling with broken hearts, knotted stomachs, and frightened nerves. For some it's the bleakness of a shattered relationship... or the gnawing suspicion that they can no longer trust their partner. For others it's the dread over the presentation they've been asked to give, or the project they've put off to the last minute. And st...
Starting at $3.99
Stress drains our vital life forces, ruins our immune systems, keeps us on edge so that all our relationships are compromised, leaves us exhausted -- and worst of all, it destroys the possibility of our coming to know what we all want more than anything else in life: a mind at peace with itself, and a quietly contented heart. Think of how rich, vital, and creative your life would be if str...
Starting at $3.99
Starting at $5.79
Go Beyond Thinking and Stop Sinking
Posted by Guy Finley in 459 Galice Road, Merlin, OR 97532 on , and updated on .
Get Guy Finley’s Bestselling eBook for FREE!
Freedom from the Ties that Bind
Simply by Joining Our Newsletter List!