The unsure self that not only looks for, but attaches itself to codependent relationships -- cannot possibly be the real you. Let's see why this statement has to be true. The real you is that silent "I" within you whose awareness understands -- without having to think about it -- that you are on this earth (going through all of these events) to grow, to realize ever-higher stages of your self.

Our lives are meant to be bright, noble, and ever ascending. This promise of our true potential is made good in us by fulfilling our possibilities and not through the interminable struggle of trying to prove what is impossible. Most of our sorrows are the stressful offspring of trying to be something we have no real need to be; they are born for attempting to do...

Isn't it true that the moment we are disturbed by an event, there is a reaction that takes place within us? That reaction forms as a stimulus we then respond to by trying to figure out how to resolve this pain we're in, fix the person, or change the condition so that the disturbance we're feeling will go away. This means that we are meeting the disturbance with further disturbance, but we don't see that the disturbed is an effect of the disturbance.

We each have ideas about who we are, how the events in our lives should go, and how other people should treat us. We believe that if everything goes according to our plan, we will be safe. By the same token, anything that threatens the fulfillment of the plan is seen as an enemy. What might some of these enemies be? Other people who don't give us the respect we deserve.

As soon as we see that the healing we hope for begins with releasing our unseen relationship with the parts of ourselves that are responsible for our self-hurting, the sooner our heartaches end.

If we were to take the whole human race and try to see its nature as being one creature, what kind of animal comes to mind for you? For me, the answer is evident: humankind most resembles an ostrich. When a disturbance comes along this creature sticks its head in the sand so as not to see what's taking place. This is not unlike closing our eyes in the hope that an approaching...

Freedom is not overcoming what you think stands in your way. It is understanding that what is in your way is part of the way.

Part 1: In the end, this life, best spent, is the one in which you have worked to purchase your freedom from the mistaken idea that it was ever your life from which you needed to escape. Part 2: The disparity between what I am -- and what I don't want to be in any given moment can never be reconciled by any change in some condition outside this divided level of self that wants -- and doesn't w...

Have you ever noticed that the more negative you get, the more difficult everything about your life becomes, including being able to do the simplest things? Even your intention to work spiritually in some way -- to develop and transcend yourself -- now sits in the hands of a very negative self, a dense level of self that sees nothing but darkness ahead of it.

More often than most of us care to tell, we run into unwanted moments that seem to challenge the very fabric of our being. Almost anything can be the proverbial straw that breaks us: a friend's betrayal, loss of health or a loved one, unexpected financial strain. Even a shattered dream can throw us into a dark nightmare. Certainly, no one gets out of his or her bed in the morning thinking, "To...

ED: Recently here at Life of Learning Foundation, Guy, you gave an inspiring talk about the benefits of self-knowledge, and I thought it would be nice for this chat if we went down the list of these benefits and talked about each of the items. GF: Let's start at the beginning. One of the oldest, truest axioms in all spiritual life is "know thyself." We don't know ourselves, Ellen. What we hav...

Any wave of resentment, anxiety, or fear that comes to wash you away is nothing more than a kind of psychic residue left over from who you once were.