Student Talks: 06/06/2025 - Show me the one who governs his or her own thoughts and feelings, and I will show you someone who lives in a world unclouded by worry and fear.

Whenever we find ourselves in some "unwanted" part of ourselves, perhaps reliving an old heartache or caught in the throes of some irrepressible anger, old fear, or unyielding worry, part of this unwanted moment includes our certainty that we're trapped in this condition. And compounding our confusion over feeling ourselves captive in this way are all of the attending negative inner voices.

One of the reasons why the false self likes to create a mess is so that it not only has something to worry over, but then it can also feel good about itself later on for getting it cleaned up!...

Classroom Talk: 12/6/2023 - Go through some fear you're sure you can't... and come out on the other side stronger, wiser, and with more faith. Go around any anxious worry or doubt... and never come out.

In this short talk, "Secret of Letting Go" author Guy Finley discusses the necessity of learning how to properly use two of the most important gifts we have been given: our time and our attention.

There's an old Zen saying "first there is a mountain, then there is no mountain, then there is a mountain" which alludes to the fact that problems are not outside of us but are an aspect of one's level of consciousness. The clearer that becomes, that there is no mountain apart from the nature that creates it, then the mountain disappears.

Persistent painful problems in life are born out of one essential weakness: our inability to direct and keep our attention on what we choose to be in relationship with in the moment.

Exercise: When you feel a contraction -- of worry, fear, emptiness, desire, excitement, etc. -- ask yourself am I connected to what's alive or what's dead. Then bring yourself back into the living now and die to the past instead of being drawn into revisiting your life.

Sometimes the touch of Grace is sweet; sometimes it seems bitter, hard to bear; yet, whatever its measure...

In this excerpt from a recent classroom talk, Guy talks about how agreeing to live with fear, worry, anxiety, depression -- or any other negative state -- is the same as living in the "dread zone," a psychological state of useless suffering that prevents us from being alive and aware in the present moment.

Classroom Talk: 10/5/2022 - What man or woman, by running away from some disturbance -- be it fear, worry, or sorrow -- can hope to transform, let alone transcend their pain? The solution to suffering is found within it, much in the same way as is the fragrance of a rose protected by thorns.

Topics Covered: Sensations and mechanical associations; Torment of inner dialog; Emotional pain and depression; Awareness vs. positive affirmations; Observer is the observed; Role as a bridge; Controlling nature; Resistance and fear; Concept of relaxation; Trying and failing; Worry about what other people think about you; Putting the work into practice; True forgiveness.