Archives

“Forgiveness is a powerful spiritual tool, without it we are damned as individuals and as a people. Forgiveness means letting go. It means being willing to accept that we are all mortals flawed and suffering, imperfectly made and trying our best. That sometimes there is a collision of instinct. Am I determined that the world must be as I decree. Do I see a future in that way of thinking, especially when it’s done nothing but bring me pain so far? What am I holding on to? What is gained by withholding forgiveness, for ruminating on a concluded event, by holding on to bygone pain and wishing ill upon a man just like me? Nothing.”
Russell Brand, Recovery (Page 134)

Goo Goo Dolls Quote from “Over You” on How Love Is Love and Nothing In Between

“Love is love and nothing in between.”
Goo Goo Dolls

Beyond the Quote (Day 406)

Light is light and nothing in between. Where there is light, there is no darkness. Where there is darkness, there is no light. A light’s intensity might make it seem like there is something in between darkness and light, but “dim” and “bright” are both still expressions of light. Light can’t be exchanged for some other “in between” particle that might do the lighting instead. Light and the various expressions of its intensity are all that there is to dispel darkness. And so it is in life, too.

“If we all feel that we are alone, how alone are we? If we all feel worthless then who is the currency of our worth being measured against? Perhaps this program is a personal and social tool that illuminates the truth that religious people have long known and physicists have proven: all the energy that has ever existed has always existed and will always exist. Form and separation are temporary. We are all one.”
Russell Brand, Recovery (Page 94)

“It is commonly understood that the opposite of addiction is connection. That in our addictive behaviours we are trying to achieve the connection. Think of it: the bliss of a hit or a drink or of sex or of gambling or eating, all legitimate drives gone awry, all a reach across the abyss, the separateness of ‘self,’ all an attempt to redress this disconnect.”
Russell Brand, Recovery (Page 86)

“Many successful people will try to tell you that anger is a powerful fuel in their lives. the desire to ‘prove them all wrong’ or ‘shove it in their faces’ has made many a millionaire. the anger at being called fat or stupid has created fine physical specimens and brilliant minds. The anger at being rejected has motivated many to carve their own path. But that’s shortsighted. Such stories ignore the pollution produced as a side effect and the wear and tear it put on the engine. It ignores what happens when that initial anger runs out—and how now more and more must be generated to keep the machine going (until, eventually, the only source left is anger at oneself).”
Ryan Holiday, The Daily Stoic (Page 50)

Marianna Williamson Quote on How All Human Behavior Is Either Love Or A Call For Love

“The way of the miracle-worker is to see all human behavior as one of two things: either love or a call for love.”
Marianna Williamson

Beyond the Quote (Day 405)

I have been a Martial Arts Instructor for my entire professional life and have had the privilege of working with thousands of students of all ages and from all different backgrounds. Based on all of the human behavior that I have experienced, I see it as the same: either as acts of love or as calls for love. And usually, it’s the students who are acting out the most who are calling for love the loudest.

“You build the pain into the story of who you are until it isn’t pain anymore, it’s just another piece of who you are.”
Russell Brand, Recovery (Page 75)

“There is no objective history, this we know, only stories. Our character is the result of this story we tell ourselves about ourselves, and the process of inventorying breaks down the hidden and destructive personal grammar that we have unwittingly allowed to govern our behaviour.”
Russell Brand, Recovery (Page 69)

“They say all the energy that has ever been is still here now and will always be here. That means there is a totality and I am part of it. When I have an opinion on suffering, it is only that, an opinion. I do not and cannot understand the full context of events that occur in an infinite and eternal universe. It’s as if within my finite lifetime I glimpse a second of a three-hour movie and try to understand the entire plot. All I must do is engage with this idea: I will become open to the idea that my conceptions, beliefs and experiences are limited. I will become open to new beliefs and new possibilities. I will become open to the idea that I can live a better, more loving and useful life, even if I don’t fully understand how I will do it or what it will be like.”
Russell Brand, Recovery (Page 47)

“Perhaps everything terrible is in its deepest being something helpless that wants help from us.”
Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters To A Young Poet, Sunbeams (Page 32)

“In infatuation, the person is a passive victim of the spell of conceived attraction for the object. In love there is an active appreciation of the intrinsic worth of the object.”
Meher Baba, Sunbeams (Page 32)

“Here’s a funny exercise: think about all the upsetting things you don’t know about—stuff people might have said about you behind your back, mistakes you might have made that never came to your attention, things you dropped or lost without even realizing it. What’s your reaction? You don’t have one because you don’t know about it. In other words, it is possible to hold no opinion about a negative thing. You just need to cultivate that power instead of wielding it accidentally.”
Ryan Holiday, The Daily Stoic (Page 49)

Hold your shield strong.

You cannot.

Ryan Holiday Quote on How Love Is Best Spelled T-I-M-E

“A French journalist once told me that love is best spelled T-I-M-E. I don’t think I’ve heard anything truer or more important in my role as a husband or father.”
Ryan Holiday, Medium

Beyond the Quote (Day 404)

Without T-I-M-E there can be no L-O-V-E. And while time isn’t the only thing needed for love to flourish, it is undoubtedly the universal preliminary requirement. It is only with the shared gift of time that all other actions, experiences, and conversations can take form. It is as though time is the bridge that connects the island of one person’s energy to another’s. And without that bridge, a person’s energy can only remain stranded and alone.

“I believe that the mystery of creation and the laws of the universe hold great power in them. I believe that the innate love that human beings have for one another is a power. I believe people’s willingness to suffer for a cause is a power. I believe the healing of an injury is a power. Muhammad Ali’s sacrifice for what he believed in is a power. The music of Mozart (or Moz), the Sistine Chapel ceiling, George Best—all these allude to some Power that is greater than me. The chances that I have had in life, the people that have loved me and been there for me. There are many examples of a Power greater than myself, alone, with my addiction and my thoughts.”
Russell Brand, Recovery (Page 46)

“My best efforts, my best intentions will be sucked into the quagmire if I am not vigilant. You too, you may think, ‘yes, I am an addict, I will change the way I drink or eat or think or relate to sexual partners,’ but surely the craving will find a new expression, like a magnetic field ordering iron filing. You can replace the filings but the pull stays the same. It is only by finding a more powerful magnetic pull that you can change the patterns completely. This can be the program itself, sedulously applied. It can be a support group, made up of like-minded people. It can be an orthodox or traditional idea of God. It can be nature. It can be a unified field of consciousness that supports all phenomena. It frankly doesn’t matter and it is entirely for you to choose, as long as it is loving, caring and more powerful than you.”
Russell Brand, Recovery (Page 45)

“In your life you’ve faced obstacles, inner and outer, that have prevented you from becoming the person you were ‘meant to be’ or ‘are capable of being’ and that is what we are going to recover. That’s why we call this process Recovery; we recover the ‘you’ that you were meant to be.”
Russell Brand, Recovery (Page 42)

“Nothing you write, if you hope to be good, will ever come out as you first hoped.”
Lillian Hellman, Sunbeams (Page 31)

“The next time someone gets upset near you—crying, yelling, breaking something, being pointed or cruel—watch how quickly this statement will stop them cold: ‘I hope this is making you feel better.’ Because, of course, it isn’t. Only in the bubble of extreme emotion can we justify any of that kind of behavior—and when called to account for it, we usually feel sheepish or embarrassed.”
Ryan Holiday, The Daily Stoic (Page 48)