Within

In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer. Albert Camus

Live

Live so that when your children think of fairness and integrity, they think of you. H. Jackson Brown Jr.

Guide

Your first task is to see the sorrow in you and around you; your next, to long intensely for liberation. The very intensity of longing will guide you; you need no other guide. Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Look Deeply

If you look deeply into the palm of your hand, you will see your parents and all generations of your ancestors. All of them are alive in this moment. Each is present in your body. You are the continuation of each of these people. Thich Nhat Hanh

Harder

How much harder it is to bear one's splendor than one's miseries! Douglas Harding

Turning Point

The turning point in the process of growing up is when you discover the strength within you that survives all the hurt. Unknown

Illusion

Why are you so enchanted by this world when a mine of gold lies within you? Rumi

Peace of Mind

In the final analysis, the hope of every person is simply peace of mind. Dalai Lama

Irritations

Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves. Carl Jung 

Paths

Look at every path closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as you think necessary. Then ask yourself, and yourself alone, one question . . . Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good; if it doesn't it is of no use. Both paths lead nowhere; but one has a heart, the other doesn't. One makes for a joyful journey; as long as you follow it, you are one with it. The other will make you curse your life. One makes you strong; the other weakens you. Carlos Castaneda

How it is

As long as you have certain desires about how it ought to be you can't see how it is. Ram Dass

Limitations

Argue for your limitations, and sure enough, they're yours. Richard Bach

Thoughts

Change your thoughts and you change your world. Norman Vincent Peale

Heaven

Heaven on Earth is a choice you must make, not a place you must find. Wayne Dyer

No Accidents

There are no accidents... there is only some purpose that we haven't yet understood. Deepak Chopra

Now

The mistake people make is to wait for something to happen to them before they begin searching. They want the voice of God, or something, to tell them to get started. Or maybe they know they should be doing something but they procrastinate, hoping that tomorrow they'll have more conviction and be more determined. What they forget is there may be no tomorrow for them. Richard Rose

Awake

Awake. Be the witness of your thoughts. You are what observes, not what you observe. The Buddha

Life is Difficult

Life is difficult. This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths. It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it. Once we truly know that life is difficult--once we truly understand and accept it--then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters. M. Scott Peck

Stillness

True intelligence operates silently. Stillness is where creativity and solutions to problems are found. Eckert Tolle 

Difficulty

It is worth remembering that the time of greatest gain in terms of wisdom and inner strength is often that of greatest difficulty. Dalai Lama 

Thinking

Not to be able to stop thinking is a dreadful affliction, but we don't realize this because almost everyone is suffering from it, so it is considered normal. This incessant mental noise prevents you from finding that realm of inner stillness that is inseparable from Being. Eckhart Tolle

Seekers

Soon the child's clear eye is clouded over by ideas and opinions, preconceptions and abstractions. Simple free being becomes encrusted with the burdensome armor of the ego. Not until years later does an instinct come that a vital sense of mystery has been withdrawn. The sun glints through the pines, and the heart is pierced in a moment of beauty and strange pain, like a memory of paradise. After that day, we become seekers. Peter Matthiessen 

Miracles

There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle. Albert Einstein

Sitting

Now let me sit here, on the threshold of two worlds. Lost in the eloquence of silence. Rumi

Stay Away

Stay away from what might have been and look at what will be. Marsha Petrie Sue

Appearances

The appearance of things change according to the emotions, and thus we see magic and beauty in them, while the magic and beauty are really in ourselves. Kahlil Gibran

Mission

Your soul mission is your reason for being, your life purpose. It's your calling in life--who you feel called to be, what you feel called to do. Mission is an energy that flows through you--a drive, voice, or passion that you cannot ignore... It's what you know in your heart you must live if you are to experience inner peace and harmony. Alan Seale

Anguish

The human heart dares not stay away too long from that which hurt it most. There is a return journey to anguish that few of us are released from making.

Beyond

Go beyond your little world and find the grandeur of God's world. Rumi 

Change Inside

If we change inside and disarm ourselves by dealing constructively with negative thoughts and emotions, we can literally change the world. Dalai Lama

Blessings

I've found that worry and irritation vanish into thin air the moment I open my mind to the many blessings I possess. Dale Carnegie

Acceptance

What could you not accept if you but knew that everything that happens, all events, past, present and to come, are gently planned by one whose only purpose is your good? Course in Miracles

Choices

Until we realize we have a choice about the way we respond, our emotional well being is entirely dependent on what someone else does. Unknown

Attention

The most precious gift we can offer anyone is our attention. Thich Nhat Hanh

Crossing

The mind creates the abyss, and the heart crosses it. Sri Nisargadatta

Growing

If only I may grow: firmer, simpler - quieter, warmer. Dag Hammarskjold

Risk

Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk. Dalai Lama

Happiness

Life is not always what one wants it to be, but to make the best of it as it is, is the only way of being happy. Jennie Jerome Churchill

Discipline

Self-respect is the fruit of discipline, the sense of dignity grows with the ability to say no to oneself. Abraham Heschel

Soul Apart

To know our soul apart from our ego is the first step in accomplishing supreme deliverance. R. Tagore

Looking

Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside awakes. Carl Gustav Jung

Healing Words

Learn to speak gently and lovingly, not only to human beings but also to animals, flowers, birds, trees and the whole of nature, for this is a divine habit. He who knows how to utter words that inspire and vivify possesses a magic wand in his mouth, and his words will never be spoken in vain... Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov 

Open

Keep a green tree in your heart and perhaps a songbird will come. Chinese proverb

The Mind Machine

The ordinary mind, being a machine, has but one function: it creates and then goes about attempting to solve problems. It enjoys this game and will continue to play it as long as you allow it to do so, your entire life if it can. It is not concerned that you are suffering in many areas because of its games. You will come to understand through the meditation techniques that you are not your ordinary mind and that it has not nearly the importance which we attach to it. Richard Hittleman

Doing

How you do anything is how you do everything. Zen saying

Recall

Not only can I not recall my experiences in my previous lives, sometimes I can't even remember what I did yesterday. Dalai Lama

Enthusiasm

Youth is not a time of life - it is a state of mind. It is not a matter of ripe cheeks, red lips, and supple knees. It is a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions. It is freshness of the deep springs of life. Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years. People grow old only by deserting their ideals. Years wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Swami Bua, Age 110

Blaming

The blaming and not taking responsibility keeps a person in the role of victim. When we accept the difficult message that our feelings are ours to deal with and no one else's, self improvement begins. We begin to walk the difficult but self-respecting path of spiritual awakening. We can do something about whatever hurts.

Love

Be warmed with love, for only love exists. Where is intimacy except in giving and receiving? Rumi 

Lashing Out

We often lash out when hurting by saying hurtful things to others and, more often, to ourselves.