We never get upset over what happens. Never. We get upset because of preconceived ideas as to what we think should happen, what we want to happen. When our preference clashes with the reality, we get hurt. Rid yourself of all preconceived ideas as to what should happen. You are then at peace whatever happens.
You cannot stop destructive actions by others, but you can stop your own destructive reactions to them
Always walk through life as if you have something new to learn, and you will.
Our freedom can be measured by the number of things we can walk away from.
Do not be impatient with your seemingly slow progress. Do not try to run faster than you presently can. If you are studying, reflecting and trying, you are making progress whether you are aware of it or not. A traveler walking the road in the darkness of night is still going forward. Someday, some way, everything will break open, like the natural unfolding of a rosebud.
You have succeeded in life when all you really want is only what you really need.
No one on earth can hurt you, unless you accept the hurt in your own mind. . . The problem is not other people; it is your reaction.
A truly strong person does not need the approval of others any more than a lion needs the approval of sheep.
You can not escape a prison if you do not know you're in one.
Be teachable. That is the whole secret.
Run forward when possible, walk ahead when you can, stagger onward when you must, but never cease your forward movement.
Happiness is not the acquisition of anything; it's the understanding of something.
You must dare to disassociate yourself from those who would delay your journey... Leave, depart, if not physically, then mentally. Go your own way, quietly, undramatically, and venture toward Trueness at last.
Our life-transformation is in exact proportion to the amount of truth we can take without running away.
To change what you get you must change who you are.
Whenever encountering a troublesome person, do not identify him as being cruel or stupid or rude or anything else like that. Instead, see him as a frightened person.
It is a mistake for anyone to think he has lived too long in his old, unsatisfactory ways to make the great change. If you switch on the light in a dark room, it makes no difference how long it was dark because the light will still shine. Be teachable. That is the whole secret.
Anger or bitterness toward those who have hurt you will block your path to higher ground. You can have anger toward people or you can have freedom from people, but you can't have both.
Truth does not really hurt, rather it is our resistance to its message that causes us pain.
A chief cause of unhappiness is what I call mental movies. Mental movies are a misuse of the imagination. You know how it goes. You have a painful experience with someone, then run it over and over in your mind. You visualize what you said, what he did, how you both felt. As awful as it is, you feel compelled to repeat the film day and night. It is as if you were locked inside a theatre playing a horrible movie.
Many of us knock on the door but remain outside, because knocking and entering are entirely different actions. Knocking is necessary, consisting of reading books, attending meetings, asking questions. But entrance requires much bolder action. It requires one to enter into himself, to uncover hidden motives, to see contradictions, and to realize his actual power for self-change.
See human nonsense as nonsense and save years of trying to make sense out of it.
It is a thousand times more sensible to climb one foot up the mountainside than to chatter for years about the mountaintop.
Don't try to be spiritual. That is only a word in the dictionary. Make it your goal to become a normally functioning individual. Let these principles shape you according to your real nature of a simple, decent, honest, unafraid human being.
It is a true miracle when a man finally sees himself as his only opposition.
