Work on Oneself

No one can hope to know the joy of true personal freedom without knowing the truth of spiritual peace. Freedom and peace are as kite and wind; the former remains grounded without the latter. This is to say that before we will feel ourselves being lifted above the conflict and illusions of this world, peace must become conscious within us. Peace is the foundation, freedom the form built upon it...

Blaming conflict-filled feelings on any condition, or person, outside of yourself is like getting angry at your shoes for being laced too tight. Most men and women recognize the need for a healthy balanced diet because good eating habits nourish the body. Good nutrition helps keep us agile and strong. And we also like to learn new skills to expand our interests. Challenging mental activities...

In my job I must deal daily with several emotionally dark coworkers. What can I do to handle this situation better, besides getting another job? I know that it is difficult to be surrounded by toxic people; however, as difficult as this is to understand, your present work circumstance is perfect for your continuing development, if you understand how to use it. I say...

If we wish to live without resentments that linger in our hearts and rid ourselves of fear with all of its debilitating limitations, we must shed the skin of our selfishness. We must learn what it means to consciously suffer ourselves without complaint and have compassion even toward those with whom we disagree. If we want to realize the higher level of Self that reveals the need for further...

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...

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...

What we become in this life is very much determined by the kind of "interior" company we keep. Even if this idea of "inner" company is new to you, its reality becomes common sense once we learn to look in the right place. Within ourselves we live in perpetual relationship with our own thoughts and feelings. If it helps you to visualize this insight, think of these psychological forms and force...

If you watch animals in the wild, one thing is obvious: The nature of an animal and its natural experience of life are indivisibly related. For example, deer attract biting flies. In the high heat of summer you won't see one without the other, and I have seen deer driven nearly crazy by these pests. They have no choice but to suffer this seasonal torment. An animal's nature attracts to it the...

To enter the true Now, where a timeless intelligence awaits, awake within itself, requires first that we align ourselves with the eternal principles that are its secret foundation. Let's look into one of the most fundamental of these empowering principles taught by every great teacher: We reap what we sow. In these so-called progressive times, this all but forgotten principle is as simple a...

Nothing seems harder to accept than some of the strange and often shocking spiritual facts to which we are awakening. After all, who would ever believe that we are responsible for so much of what proves to be unnecessary suffering? But with the help of honest self-investigation, we begin to learn that we must challenge this involuntary, often intractable refusal to consider such ideas. The tru...

No one succeeds in life who lives in fear. Fearlessness is first the will to proceed in spite of conditions, and then it becomes a consciousness fixed in us that is beyond conditions. Real success is a fearless state of being in a conscious relationship with an Intelligence that always achieves its ends in spite of changing conditions. The success that our present nature looks for is to try...

The following short set of questions and answers is taken from the "Ask the Masters" sections that follow the end of each chapter in Guy Finley's newest book, Let Go and Live in the Now. QUESTION: I love the idea of living in a world without storms, but given how much turmoil and trouble there seems to be everywhere, including in ourselves, where do we find such an elevated state of self?...