“the inward movement can be summarized as follows: we observe ourselves, we accept what we find without judgment, we let it go, and the actual release causes our transformation.”
Yung Pueblo, Inward (Page 107)
“healing ourselves isn’t about constantly feeling bliss; being attached to bliss is a bondage of its own. trying to force ourselves to be happy is counterproductive, because it suppresses the sometimes tough reality of the moment, pushing it back within the depths of our being, instead of allowing it to arise and release.”
Yung Pueblo, Inward (Page 81)
“There is great power in honoring the reality of our current emotions—not feeding them or making them worse but simply recognizing that this is what has arisen in this present moment and that this will also change. When we create this space within ourselves—a space of calmness that is undisturbed by the storm—the storm tends to pass more quickly.”
Yung Pueblo, Inward (Page 81)
The Weight Of Envy—A Short Story About Letting Go
Excerpt: A teacher told his students to make a list of everybody they envied. But, instead of using paper, to write each name on a potato…
Read More »The Weight Of Envy—A Short Story About Letting Go
“There is a palace that opens only to tears.”
Zohar, via Sunbeams (Page 159)
“We tend to think of the rational as a higher order, but it is the emotional that marks our lives. One often learns more from ten days of agony than from ten years of contentment.”
Merle Shain, via Sunbeams (Page 155)
“When we lay claim to the evil in ourselves, we no longer need fear its occurring outside of our control. For example, a patient comes into therapy complaining that he does not get along well with other people; somehow he always says the wrong thing and hurts their feelings. He is really a nice guy, just has this uncontrollable, neurotic problem. What he does not want to know is that his ‘unconscious hostility’ is not his problem, it’s his solution. He is really not a nice guy who wants to be good; he’s a bastard who wants to hurt other people while still thinking of himself as a nice guy. If the therapist can guide him into the pit of his own ugly soul, then there may be hope for him… Nothing about ourselves can be changed until it is first accepted.”
Sheldon Kopp, If You Meet The Buddha On the Road, Kill Him, via Sunbeams (Page 137)
“There is no vice which lacks a defense, none that at the outset isn’t modest and easily intervened—but after this the trouble spreads widely. If you allow it to get started you won’t be able to control when it stops. Every emotion is at first weak. Later it rouses itself and gathers strength as it moves along—it’s easier to slow it down than to supplant it.”
Seneca, Moral Letters, via The Daily Stoic (Page 175)
“…Between grief and nothing I will take grief.”
William Faulkner, The Wild Palms, via Sunbeams (Page 113)
