Bound up as we are within the closed world of our own thoughts, we see virtually nothing other than what the false self of the moment wants us to see. By contrast, in real life, everything is new.

The "hard" part of this practicing of presence in the now is that our habitual mind, the false self, wants to know itself through one thought or another.

Question: I not only stiffen up sometimes before speaking to someone who intimidates me, but sometimes I feel like my throat is choking up with so much tension I'm afraid I'll lose the power to even speak! I'd very much like to get past this debilitating, sometimes humiliating, state of self. What can I do? Guy's Response: If we're ever to outgrow the predicaments that we face, we mus...

Learn to look at all difficult moments as opportunities to come awake to yourself and a place from which you can practice stepping outside of the attending circle of negative thoughts.

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...

Your awareness of troubled thoughts and feelings roaming through you is the power that keeps their harmful and self-limiting influences from having control over you.

The things we put first in our life, our moment-to-moment choices in life, are a direct reflection of what we value most in that moment.

Like the invisible winds that move the branches on the trees, we live in a world of this unseen, but ceaseless, flood of thoughts and feelings.

We are created and each of us is intended to discover the truth of ourselves within ourselves. Our lives -- and all of our relationships as revealed in the present moment -- are the ground we must plow. These soils are seeded with our intention to be kind and true to one another, to give up our selfish ways, and to willingly embrace whatever life lessons we need to further our inner developmen...

When you stop talking to yourself, you will find yourself back in the moment where life is literally bringing to you everything that you need in order to go through and become a part of the moment that changes you.

The next time you run into some familiar blockage or begin to feel unsuited to face some new and difficult personal challenge, don't try to think your way around it.

When attention is directed, it has the ability to invest an idea with energy and life. Wherever you place your attention, you give life to that seed of thought. We've all experienced how the power of attention almost seems to have a magnetic pull. This power can be used for good or bad. When we use it for practical work, or for honest self-observation, we use it to our own benefit. However, w...