The right quote at the right time can transform your life. Not all quotes are powerful, but every once in a while, you come across a quote that stands out from the rest. These powerful quotes inspire you to take a step back and to…
The right quote at the right time can transform your life. Not all quotes are powerful, but every once in a while, you come across a quote that stands out from the rest. These powerful quotes inspire you to take a step back and to…
There are as many ways to relax and meditate as there are benefits of meditation. So how do you choose? A good one to try if you’re just starting out is body scan meditation. A 2019 research review found that body scan meditation techniques can better your relationship with your body by increasing bodily awareness and positivity.
The following guide is a deep and full exploration of body scan, which is a meditative exercise that calls your awareness to each part of your body for total relaxation and rejuvenation. The body scan meditation is incredible for stress and anxiety relief, and wonderful to do in conjunction with a regular yoga practice or exercise routine.
For most, this is best to practice while lying down so you have full access to your body, although some people prefer to do it sitting down – it’s really what suits and is most comfortable for you. It’s recommended to do when you’ve completed the active part of your day when you’re winding down an active and frazzled mind.
Today I will be sharing with you an easy to follow how guide for practicing a meditation body scan. I hope you find this guide helpful.
It’s when you focus on how each body part feels, from the crown of your head to your toes, so that you learn your body’s physical distress signals. Body scan meditations are a very popular method of mindfulness. You practice by returning your awareness to yourself through focusing on different parts of the body.
There are infinite ways to start since there isn’t a single body scan meditation script. A lot of people find this relaxing and this helps to reduce anxiety (though the focus is to simply be present and aware of sensations). It is a very simple technique that anyone can practice. By directing your attention to how each part of your body feels, this type of meditation can help you better manage pain, stress and anxiety.
Yoga and meditation teacher Jennifer Robinson, helps her students connect their mental and physical health with guided body scan meditation. The practice enables you to focus on the moment by what’s happening inside your body that you might’ve previously ignored.
Jennifer adds:
“Body scan meditation introduces you to the three major categories of bodily experience: neutral, pleasant, and unpleasant,” Robinson says. “Regularly practicing body scan meditation, you’ll learn to support your mind calming down with less effort and focus,”
Research supports that having a mindfulness practice, like body scan meditation, increases self-compassion by rewriting negative thought patterns. Robinson suggests two to five minutes of body scan meditation to silence your inner critic. Since the brain can’t focus on multiple things at once, Robinson says body scan meditation “gets you out of mental loops.”
You can use body scan meditation to promote healthier sleep, as seen in this 2020 study of teens. The study reported that combining body scan meditation and cognitive behavioural therapy positively affects sleep more than CBT treatments alone.
Zen meditation teacher Taiun M. Elliston Abbot from the Atlanta Soto Zen Center says that his body scan meditation students report better sleep following the practice because the technique aims to ease tension and clear mental confusion.
When we experience stress, our bodies tense, and that’s where body scan meditation comes in. Participants in this 2019 psychological stress study had reduced cortisol (the stress hormone) levels following an eight-week body scan meditation stint.
Body scanning takes practice and patience. Whether it’s your first time or your fifth, here are a few tips to help you improve your body scan practice:
You should set aside at least ten minutes to do this practice. You can do it either lying down or sitting up.
Take a few full breaths to help your body and mind begin to relax. Feel the sensations where your body connects with the floor or surface under you. Feel your body getting heavy.
Starting by sensing your head. Sense your forehead and the area around your eyes. This is an area lots of us hold tension. There’s no right or wrong thing to feel. Just notice and gently name any sensations silently like warmth, tingling or pressure.
Let your attention move to the top of your head, to your scalp, and down the sides and back of your head. And feel your neck, the muscles along the back and sides, and even sense inside your neck and throat.
Now sense your shoulders, the large heavy muscles of your shoulders and shoulder blades. If you notice any tension or discomfort here, it’s not anything you need to change, just be aware of it. If you like, you can breathe into any area that feels some discomfort. This just means that you imagine your breath is moving in and out of the area, instead of your nose.
Let your attention move slowly down your arms, sensing your upper arms, elbows and lower arms. Sense the muscles and bones here. Feel the bones of your wrist and the softness of your palms. Our hands are a centre of so much activity and expression. Feel all the sensations in your palms, fingers and fingertips.
Now shift your attention to your chest around your heart and solar plexus. What do you notice there? Breathe and feel it. It may be different in the next moment. You’re just tuning in right now to your body to these precise physical sensations. And remember: be patient. Your body moves at a slower pace than your mind.
Now allow your attention to move into your stomach and hips. Let your attention rest here for a few breaths. Continue down your upper legs, knees and lower legs, taking as much time as you need to feel the sensations and awareness there. Remember that there’s no right or wrong experience, only to be as present and caring as you can.
Then move down into your feet, ankles, the soles of your feet and all ten toes. Your feet work so hard all day long: really feel all the muscles and tendons and tissues there.
Now, take a big breath and see if you can feel your whole body all at once sitting or lying here, breathing. From the tips of your toes, up through your legs, your torso, your arms, into your head and face. Feel your body as one, whole field of sensation and energy. Keep breathing and finish the practice. And when you’re ready, slowly open your eyes.
How did it go? When you’ve finished the body scan meditation, take a moment to notice any sense of freshness, relaxation or grounding. Take a moment to observe and feel your body and mind, before you return to your day.
Once you have used this body scan meditation script a few times, try doing the practice in your own way. Move your attention through your body at your own pace, in any way you like, following the tips in this article and, most important, being curious and kind. You may find that going solo allows you to be even more attentive to what is going on for you, and to connect more deeply with your inner world.
This simple practice can be done as much as you like. Studies have shown that regular practice of the body scan can reduce stress and have a positive effect on emotional and physical well being.
If you have any questions please reach out to me via adam@adam-lawrence.org. I would love to hear from you.
If you’re interested in working with me in a more structured approach, then please send an email to adam@adam-lawrence.org for a free consultation to take the first step towards personal transformation. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello! My name is Adam and welcome to my space on the internet. Here you can find me writing about subjects such as spiritual growth, self-discovery, wellbeing, addiction recovery and mental health. Please connect with me on my journey and join the community!
The right quote at the right time can transform your life. Not all quotes are powerful, but every once in a while, you come across a quote that stands out from the rest. These powerful quotes inspire you to take a step back and to…
Living in the present moment – The cure for anxiety & depression! How do depression and anxiety arise? Depression arises from overthinking about the past, anxiety arises from overthinking about the future. When we bounce between the two, our life is at never-ending turmoil…
Today I will be sharing with you 60 beautiful Gangaji quotes.
Born in Texas in 1942, Gangaji grew up in Mississippi. After graduating from the University of Mississippi in 1964, she married and had a daughter. In 1972, she moved to San Francisco where she began exploring deeper levels of her being. She took Bodhisattva vows, practiced Zen and Vipassana meditation, helped run a Tibetan Buddhist Meditation Centre, and had a career as an acupuncturist in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Despite her successes, Gangaji continued to experience a deep and persistent longing for fulfilment. She pursued many paths to change her life including relationship, motherhood, political activism, career, and spiritual practice, but even the greatest of her successes ultimately came up short. In the wake of her disillusionment, she made a final prayer for true help.
In 1990 the answer to her prayer came unexpectedly, taking her to India and to the meeting that would change everything. There, on the banks of the river Ganga, she met Sri H.W.L. Poonja, also known as Papaji, who opened the floodgates of her self-recognition. In this meeting, Gangaji’s personal story of suffering ended and the promise of a true life began to flower and unfold.
Overflowing with gratitude, Gangaji asked Papaji how she might truly thank him for this immeasurable gift of freedom. He said, “I am really glad you asked that…the only way is to give your life to this.” Without having any idea what that would mean, Gangaji said, “Yes.” Since that day she has travelled the world speaking to anyone who would listen, and pointing them to what is already free, the truth of who they are, the truth of who you are.
Among other titles, Gangaji is the author of The Diamond in Your Pocket, Freedom & Resolve: The Living Edge of Surrender, and Hidden Treasure: Uncovering the Truth in Your Life Story. I hope you enjoy these beautiful quotes as much as I do.
1. “Under the obsessive thoughts and plans, under the emotions, positive and negative, there is an ocean of peace.” ~ Gangaji
2. “The love that you search for everywhere is already present within you. It may be evoked by any number of people or events. But finally, you must realize you are this love. The source of all love is within you.” ~ Gangaji
3. “The meaning of your life depends on which ideas you permit to use you. Who you think you are determines where you put your attention. Where you direct your attention creates your life experiences, and brings a new course of events into being. Where you habitually put your attention is what you worship. What do you worship in this mindstream called your life?” ~ Gangaji
4. “Love has nothing to do with another person. Love is Truth. Love is Beauty. Love is Self. To know yourself, to surrender to the truth of yourself, is to surrender to love.” ~ Gangaji
5. “When you are willing to stop looking for something in thought, you find everything in silence.” ~ Gangaji
6. “Be still and know yourself as the Truth you have been searching for. Be still and let the inherent joy of that Truth capture your drama and destroy it in the bliss of consummation. Be still and let your life be lived by the purpose you were made for. Be still and receive the inherent truth of your heart.” ~ Gangaji
7. “The truth is you really are nothing, but this nothing is full, whole, infinite in everything and everywhere. This nothing is conciousness itself. It is already whole, complete and fulfilled. This is the amazing irony.” ~ Gangaji
8. “Be still. it takes no effort to be still; it is utterly simple. When your mind is still, you have no name, you have no past, you have no relationships, you have no country, you have no spiritual attainment, you have no lack of spiritual attainment. There is just the presence of beingness with itself.” ~ Gangaji
9. “Fear is about survival. When you drop under that and experience the fear without trying to change it, just letting it be, then it becomes still. When you open your heart to fear, rather than trying to fight it or deny it or even overcome it, then you find it is just energy.” ~ Gangaji
10. “Trust yourself. At the root, at the core, there is pure sanity, pure openness. Don’t trust what you have been taught, what you think, what you believe, what you hope. Deeper than that, trust the silence of your being.” ~ Gangaji
11. “True forgiveness and love arise naturally, effortlessly, from the silence of the heart broken all the way open.” ~ Gangaji
12. “We have tried everything to get rid of suffering. We have gone everywhere to get rid of suffering. We have bought everything to get rid of it. We have ingested everything to get rid of it. Finally, when one has tried enough, there arises the possibility of spiritual maturity with the willingness to stop the futile attempt to get rid of it and, instead, to actually experience suffering. In that momentous instant, there is the realization of that which is beyond suffering, of that which is untouched by suffering. There is the realization of who one truly is.” ~ Gangaji
13. “If you’re laughing, you’re healing.” ~ Gangaji
14. “When all mental activity around who you think you are or what you need for happiness is stopped, there is a crack in the authority of perception, in the structure of the mind. I invite you to enter through that crack. Come in through that opening. When you do, the mind is no longer filled with its latest self-definition. In that moment, there is only silence. And in that silence, it is possible to recognize absolute fulfilment: the truth of who you are.” ~ Gangaji
15. “Need nothing and then see what happens.” ~ Gangaji
16. “I am inviting you to discover that deeper than any pattern, deeper than personality, deeper than success or failure, deeper than worth or worthlessness, there is a radiance that is undeniable, always present – the truth of who you are.” ~ Gangaji
17. “Meditating is not a matter of saying i am going to meditate. It is, just for a moment retreating from the need to do anything and instead just be.” ~ Gangaji
18. “To be truly happy you must recognize who you are with nothing.” ~ Gangaji
19. “The most sublime truth of all has never been stated or written or sung. Not because it is far away and can not be reached, but because it is so intimately close, closer than anything that can be spoken. It is alive as the stillness in the core of your being, too close to be described, too close to be objectified, too close to be known in the usual way of knowledge. The truth of who you are is yours already. It is already present.” ~ Gangaji
20. “You are here. However, you imagine yourself to be, you are here. Imagine yourself as a body, you are here. Imagine yourself as God, you are here. Imagine yourself as worthless, superior, nothing at all, you are still here. My suggestion is that you stop all imagining, here.” ~ Gangaji
21. “You cannot truly express yourself until you first discover who you are.” ~ Gangaji
22. “Pure no-thing-ness is conscious intelligence.” ~ Gangaji
23. “Recognize, you ARE Home. Not, you are ‘at home’… you ARE Home. Not, you have ‘come home’… you ARE Home. You are that which IS Home.” ~ Gangaji
24. “Self is not liberated. It was never bound. What gets liberated are the demons as well as gods of your mind. Set them free. You are sick of playing with the game. Be willing to not play the game. This takes huge resolve.” ~ Gangaji
25. “I’m a student of history and know that civilizations get lost – they are born and die – and so I recognize the tender mortality of our civilization. I’m not saying I’m separate from the despair of that, but I’m not controlled by the despair of that.” ~ Gangaji
26. “The secret gem of truth has been hidden in the core of your own heart all along. My invitation is to stop all movement of your mind away from truth so that you can discover directly, for yourself, this jewel that is alive within you.” ~ Gangaji
27. “If you are willing to experience anything directly and immediately, whether good or bad, joyous or hateful, you will recognize that what you are running from does not exist, and what you are running toward is already here.” ~ Gangaji
28. “The word God, to me, is like the word enlightenment. It’s become so corrupted by our ideas of what God is.” ~ Gangaji
29. “Fulfilment has nothing to do with circumstances.” ~ Gangaji
30. “Who you are, in truth, who everyone is, is whole and perfect and beautiful. And if that can be recognized, then it is possible that self-torture can stop!” ~ Gangaji
Want to more guidance from Gangaji? The below books have been such an important part of my journey towards self-discovery. I highly recommend them.
31. “I could see that everything I had identified as really me, was not really me, but was just a pattern of strategies to avoid some kind of abyss or emptiness.” ~ Gangaji
32. “You cannot be happy unless you are serving the truth of your being, however, that service looks.” ~ Gangaji
33. “In a sacred moment, when attention is pulled inward, rather than continuing in its usual outward direction, silence is realized.” ~ Gangaji
34. “Whatever we embrace eventually reveals the place we have been seeking.” ~ Gangaji
35. “Be naked in the splendor of the truth of who you are.” ~ Gangaji
36. “Finally, all that is trustworthy is this immeasurable silent awareness that is the truth of who you are, that is love.” ~ Gangaji
37. “If you will stop all searching right now and tell the truth to yourself, you will know what is known in the core of your bones.
You will know it with no image of it, no concept of it, no thought of it.
You will know it as that which has eternally been here.
And you will know it as yourself.” ~ Gangaji
38. “I invite people to just stop and be still. And in that you discover who you are, because once you discover who you are, you can stop fragmenting into pieces. I know that in any one day there are moments were there is nothing going on, but we link up what is happening from thought to thought without any space. We overlook the spaciousness that it is all happening in.” ~ Gangaji
39. “There’s great release, really, in not seeing into the future.” ~ Gangaji
40. “If you are willing to take an instant to withdraw attention from whatever your internal dialogue is, to withdraw energy from whatever the latest point of view about your suffering is, it is immediately obvious what is here: the fullness, the richness, and the love of oneself as conscious life.” ~ Gangaji
41. “Trusting yourself is realizing yourself. Trusting life is realizing yourself as life. This is an invitation to our thinking minds to open in trust. We can trust that there is a knowing that is out of the realm of thoughts or emotions or circumstances. When we deeply trust, our minds open to discover what is true, regardless of what we are feeling. The deepest trust is a by-product of this true realization.” ~ Gangaji
42. “I’m not suggesting that you have to overcome your fear of death. But we have to be willing to recognize at any moment, death could come.” ~ Gangaji
43. “True, absolute silence and true, absolute love are not different. Absolute silent awareness overflows with simple, fulfilled absolute love. Objects – people, nature, emotions – may or may not appear. Objects are not needed and they are welcomed. The joy of this full silence is uncaused and unlimited. Always here, always discovering itself. It is the treasure, and it is hidden only when we refuse to keep quiet and find out who we are.” ~ Gangaji
44. “You have the freedom, ability and authority to love your life. Just be you, then wait.” ~ Gangaji
45. “What will happen in your life if you accept the invitation to stillness cannot be known … what can be known is you will have a larger capacity to truly meet whatever appears.” ~ Gangaji
46. “Even in the running away from hurting, there is hurting. In opening unprotected to the experience that is enslaving you with its torment, there is the willingness to be free.” Are you willing? Or do you just want towait until the world finally gets it and does it your way?” ~ Gangaji
47. “There is nothing more potent than thought. Deed follows word and word follows thought. And where the thought is mighty and pure, the result is mighty and pure.” ~ Gangaji
48. “All of the searching, all of the struggling, all of the efforting to find your true self is naturally revealed in open, relaxed simplicity.” ~ Gangaji
49. “Safety is knowing that when this particular life form is finished, what it has served remains.” ~ Gangaji
50. “Time is a very useful concept in terms of survival. It’s extraordinary that we can delineate a day into segments so that we can actually look at those segments, examine them, and see what worked and what didn’t’ work. We get very attached to time because it’s a power, this invention of time is very powerful, and we like power.” ~ Gangaji
51. “Surrender all thought, emotion, and circumstance to that which is bigger and deeper.
Surrender your identity. Surrender your suffering to that which is closer than identity,
deeper than suffering. Do you discover victory or defeat in this surrender?” ~ Gangaji
52. “When you are free enough to stop searching for freedom, you recognize that freedom is always here, it’s your nature as timeless presence. That doesn’t mean the circumstances are always free, of course.” ~ Gangaji
53. “Be open. And then the truth follows.” ~ Gangaji
54. “I don’t mean to say that you shouldn’t take care of your body, or want to keep it from dying. But it doesn’t have the same hold as when you totally identify yourself as the body. To recognize the tenderness of mortality, the fragility of your life form and all life forms, including cosmic life forms, is to be humbled in a deep way that is actually enlivening.” ~ Gangaji
55. “I support people if they are called to be active and protesting, resisting, working for restoration or, for more just political conversation. I also support everyone in listening to each other. We’re at a very interesting and disturbing time in terms of our civil discourse. And yet always, in disturbance, things are shook up and that shaking can lead to deeper maturity and a deeper discourse. May it be so.” ~ Gangaji
56. “Fulfilment has nothing to do with circumstances.” ~ Gangaji
57. “The choiceless truth of who you are is revealed to be permanently here permeating everything. Not a thing and not separate from anything.” ~ Gangaji
58. “Revelation is beyond doctrines and belief systems. It is beyond everything imaginable. It is beyond because it is so close. Revelation is more direct than every word, for it arises out of the truth of who you are. This truth is all you have ever longed for, all you have ever needed.” ~ Gangaji
59. “But somehow in identifying myself as the healer, there was still a seed of both self-righteousness and defence from a kind of emptiness.” ~ Gangaji
60. “My responsibility is simply being who I am and not buying into any projection as real. No projection is finally real, but projection does play a very important role.” ~ Gangaji
As a teacher and author Gangaji meets with seekers from across the globe and in all walks of life. She shares her direct experience of the essential message she received from her teacher Papaji and offers it to all who want to discover a true and lasting fulfilment. Through her life and words, she powerfully articulates how it is really possible to discover the truth of who you are and be true to that discovery.
I would love to hear your thoughts on what you are doing to change your life in the coming days and years! If you have any questions please reach out to me via adam@adam-lawrence.org. I would love to hear from you!
Hello! My name is Adam and welcome to my space on the internet. Here you can find me writing about subjects such as spiritual growth, self-discovery, wellbeing, addiction recovery and mental health. Please connect with me on my journey and join the community!
The right quote at the right time can transform your life. Not all quotes are powerful, but every once in a while, you come across a quote that stands out from the rest. These powerful quotes inspire you to take a step back and to…
The benefits of having a daily gratitude practice are nearly endless. This is a simple practice but the challenge is taking the time to integrate it into your daily life. It can take 21 days to form a habit and then it will become more…
Eckhart Tolle is a German-born resident of Canada, best known as the author of The Power of Now and A New Earth: Awakening to your Life’s Purpose. In 2011, he was listed by the Watkins Review as the most spiritually influential person in the world.
Eckhart Tolle offers wonderful advice that focuses on mindfulness and letting go of the ego. He is a huge advocate of living in the now, and reading his quotes always make me feel at bliss. A lot of these quotes are taken from his most popular book, The Power of Now, where he gives practical teachings and advice so we can learn how to live in the present moment.
These quotes are also like a mini-course on mindfulness, presence, and how to work with the conceptual and emotional arisings in the mind, so they don’t pull you into suffering, again and again. You can use these quotes as an essential step-by-step guide to living right now. Ready to be inspired?
Today I will be sharing 100+ enlightening Eckhart Tolle quotes. I hope you enjoy these quotes as much as I do!
“The past has no power over the present moment.”
“Some changes look negative on the surface but you will soon realize that space is being created in your life for something new to emerge.”
“Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have. Make the Now the primary focus of your life.”
“People look to time in expectation that it will eventually make them happy, but you cannot find true happiness by looking toward the future.”
“It is through gratitude for the present moment that the spiritual dimension of life opens up.”
“The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but your thoughts about it.”
“Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance.”
“Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness. How do you know this is the experience you need? Because this is the experience you are having at the moment.”
“The power for creating a better future is contained in the present moment: You create a good future by creating a good present.”
“Don’t wait to be successful at some future point. Have a successful relationship with the present moment and be fully present in whatever you are doing. That is success.”
“Sometimes letting things go is an act of far greater power than defending or hanging on.”
“To love is to recognize yourself in another.”
“Any action is often better than no action, especially if you have been stuck in an unhappy situation for a long time. If it is a mistake, at least you learn something, in which case it’s no longer a mistake. If you remain stuck, you learn nothing.”
“What a liberation to realize that the ‘voice in my head’ is not who I am. ‘Who am I, then?’ The one who sees that.”
“Discontent, blaming, complaining, self-pity cannot serve as a foundation for a good future, no matter how much effort you make.”
“Life isn’t as serious as the mind makes it out to be.”
“Time isn’t precious at all, because it is an illusion. What you perceive as precious is not time but the one point that is out of time: the Now. That is precious indeed. The more you are focused on time—past and future—the more you miss the Now, the most precious thing there is.”
“Life is the dancer and you are the dance.”
“People don’t realize that now is all there ever is; there is no past or future except as memory or anticipation in your mind.”
“Anything that you resent and strongly react to in another is also in you.”
“If small things have the power to disturb you, then who you think you are is exactly that: small.”
“Always say ‘yes’ to the present moment… Surrender to what is. Say ‘yes’ to life – and see how life starts suddenly to start working for you rather than against you.”
“To complain is always nonacceptance of what is. It invariably carries an unconscious negative charge. When you complain, you make yourself into a victim. When you speak out, you are in your power. So change the situation by taking action or by speaking out if necessary or possible; leave the situation or accept it. All else is madness.”
“Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it.”
“You can only lose something that you have, but you cannot lose something that you are.”
“I’m grateful for always this moment, the now, no matter what form it takes.”
“Some people awaken spiritually without ever coming into contact with any meditation technique or any spiritual teaching. They may awaken simply because they can’t stand the suffering anymore.”
“Acceptance looks like a passive state, but in reality, it brings something entirely new into this world. That peace, a subtle energy vibration, is consciousness.”
“You find peace not by rearranging the circumstances of your life, but by realizing who you are at the deepest level.”
“Prejudice of any kind implies that you are identified with the thinking mind. It means you don’t see the other human being anymore, but only your own concept of that human being. To reduce the aliveness of another human being to a concept is already a form of violence.”
“I have lived with several Zen masters — all of them cats.”
“Whatever you fight, you strengthen, and what you resist, persists.”
“For many people who are so lost in their minds, so much involved in their thought processes, the only moments they have when they are not trapped in that is when they are relating to their animal, their pet.”
“When people get taken over by the ego to such an extent, there is nothing else in their mind except the ego. They can no longer feel or sense their humanity – what they share with other human beings, or even with other life forms on the planet. They are so identified with concepts in their minds that other human beings become concepts as well.”
“Death is a stripping away of all that is not you. The secret of life is to ‘die before you die’ — and find that there is no death.”
“A genuine relationship is one that is not dominated by the ego with its image-making and self-seeking. In a genuine relationship, there is an outward flow of open, alert attention toward the other person in which there is no wanting whatsoever.”
“The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but thought about it. Be aware of the thoughts you are thinking. Separate them from the situation, which is always neutral. It is as it is.”
“The answer is, who you are cannot be defined through thinking or mental labels or definitions, because it’s beyond that. It is the very sense of being, or presence, that is there when you become conscious of the present moment. In essence, you and what we call the present moment are, at the deepest level, one.”
“That is the real spiritual awakening, when something emerges from within you that is deeper than who you thought you were. So, the person is still there, but one could almost say that something more powerful shines through the person.”
“All negativity is caused by an accumulation of psychological time and denial of the present. Unease, anxiety, tension, stress, worry – all forms of fear – are caused by too much future, and not enough presence. Guilt, regret, resentment, grievances, sadness, bitterness, and all forms of non-forgiveness are caused by too much past, and not enough presence.”
“Worry pretends to be necessary but serves no useful purpose.”
“Dogmas are collective conceptual prisons. And the strange thing is that people love their prison cells because they give them a sense of security and a false sense of ‘I know.’ Nothing has inflicted more suffering on humanity than its dogmas.”
“Thoughts are fine when you don’t confuse them with who you are, and then thoughts are not a problem. Thinking is a wonderful tool to create things in this world. It only becomes problematic and a source of suffering when you confuse thinking with who you are.”
“When you wash your hands, when you make a cup of coffee, when you’re waiting for the elevator – instead of indulging in thinking, these are all opportunities for being there as a still, alert presence.”
“Is there a difference between happiness and inner peace? Yes. Happiness depends on conditions being perceived as positive; inner peace does not.”
“Pleasure is always derived from something outside you, whereas joy arises from within.”
“To realize that you are not your thoughts is when you begin to awaken spiritually.”
The below books have been highly influential on my journey. Coming across Eckhart’s work was definitely a turning point on my spiritual path. His work expanded my awareness and opened me up to many other great teachers and Gurus. I will be forever grateful for that.
“Your entire life only happens in this moment. The present moment is life itself. Yet, people live as if the opposite were true and treat the present moment as a stepping stone to the next moment – a means to an end.”
“Even the most seemingly unpleasant situations – if you become aligned with it, something good will emerge from that.”
“If you get the inside right, the outside will fall into place. Primary reality is within; secondary reality without.”
“Love is a state of Being. Your love is not outside; it is deep within you. You can never lose it, and it cannot leave you. It is not dependent on some other body, some external form.”
“It is not uncommon for people to spend their whole life waiting to start living.”
“All true artists, whether they know it or not, create from a place of no-mind, from inner stillness.”
“You do not become good by trying to be good, but by finding the goodness that is already within you, and allowing that goodness to emerge. But it can only emerge if something fundamental changes in your state of consciousness.”
“Fear seems to have many causes. Fear of loss, fear of failure, fear of being hurt, and so on, but ultimately all fear is the ego’s fear of death, of annihilation. To the ego, death is always just around the corner. In this mind-identified state, fear of death affects every aspect of your life.”
“You are not a problem that needs solving.”
“To me the ego is the habitual and compulsive thought processes that go through everybody’s mind continuously. External things like possessions or memories or failures or successes or achievements. Your personal history.”
“This, too, will pass.”
“The past gives you an identity and the future holds the promise of salvation, of fulfillment in whatever form. Both are illusions.”
“Living up to an image that you have of yourself or that other people have of you is inauthentic living.”
“Realize deeply that the present moment is all you will ever have.”
“Was Jesus the son of God? Yes. But so are you. You just haven’t realized it yet.”
“Thinking is a wonderful tool if it’s applied. Thinking, however, can not become the master. Thinking is a very bad master. If you’re dominated by thinking then your life becomes very restricted.”
“You can always cope with the present moment, but you cannot cope with something that is only a mind projection – you cannot cope with the future.”
“Don’t let a mad world tell you that success is anything other than a successful present moment.”
“Don’t Seek Happiness. If you seek it, you won’t find it, because seeking is the antithesis of happiness”
“Awareness is the greatest agent for change.”
“Power over others is weakness disguised as strength.”
“Narrow your life down to this moment. Your life situation may be full of problems – most life situations are – but find out if you have a problem at this moment. Do you have a problem now?”
“Is fear preventing you from taking action? Acknowledge the fear, watch it, take your attention into it, be fully present with it. Doing so cuts the link between the fear and your thinking. Don’t let the fear rise up into your mind. Use the power of the Now. Fear cannot prevail against it.”
“Can you look without the voice in your head commenting, drawing conclusions, comparing, or trying to figure something out?”
“As soon as you honor the present moment, all unhappiness and struggle dissolve, and life begins to flow with joy and ease. When you act out the present-moment awareness, whatever you do becomes imbued with a sense of quality, care, and love – even the most simple action.”
“All the things that truly matter, beauty, love, creativity, joy and inner peace arise from beyond the mind.”
“When you don’t cover up the world with words and labels, a sense of the miraculous returns to your life that was lost a long time ago when humanity, instead of using thought, became possessed by thought.”
“You can have religion with spirituality. You can also have religion without spirituality.”
“Many people identify their sense of self with the problems they have, or think they have.”
“Many people in this world are still so identified with every thought that arises in their head. There is not the slightest space of awareness there.”
“If you live only in one culture for the first 20 years of your life, you become conditioned without knowing it.”
“Being must be felt. It can’t be thought.”
“If not now, when?”
“Only the truth of who you are, if realized, will set you free.”
“To recognize one’s own insanity is, of course, the arising of sanity, the beginning of healing and transcendence.”
“The most common ego identifications have to do with possessions, the work you do, social status and recognition, knowledge and education, physical appearance, special abilities, relationships, person and family history, belief systems, and often nationalistic, racial, religious, and other collective identifications. None of these is you.”
“When you take your attention into the present moment, a certain alertness arises. You become more conscious of what’s around you, but also, strangely, a sense of presence that is both within and without.”
“Often, little situations trigger enormous reactions. Be there, present for it. Your partner will find it easier to see it in you, and you will find it easier to see it in them.”
“The moment you become aware of the ego in you, it is strictly speaking no longer the ego, but just an old, conditioned mind-pattern. Ego implies unawareness. Awareness and ego cannot coexist.”
“Whenever you become anxious or stressed, outer purpose has taken over, and you lost sight of your inner purpose. You have forgotten that your state of consciousness is primary, all else secondary.”
“Because of its phantom nature, and despite elaborate defense mechanisms, the ego is very vulnerable and insecure, and it sees itself as constantly under threat. This, by the way, is the case even if the ego is outwardly very confident.”
“Memories are thoughts that arise. They’re not realities. Only when you believe that they are real, then they have the power over you. But when you realize it’s just another thought arising about the past, then you can have a spacious relationship with that thought. The thought no longer has you in its grip.”
“If danger arises in the present moment, there may be an emotion. There may even be pain. But that’s a challenge, not a problem. For a problem to exist, you need time and repetitive mind activity.”
“If the structures of the human mind remain unchanged, we will always end up re-creating the same world, the same evils, the same dysfunction.”
“In today’s rush we all think too much, seek too much, want too much and forget about the joy of just Being.”
“What a caterpillar calls the end of the world we call a butterfly.”
“What you react to in others, you strengthen in yourself.”
“You are not IN the universe, you ARE the universe, an intrinsic part of it. Ultimately you are not a person, but a focal point where the universe is becoming conscious of itself. What an amazing miracle.”
“Words reduce reality to something the human mind can grasp, which isn’t very much.”
“We should purify our innate well of contentment – what a wonderful expression – and then external things will be in harmony with us.”
“Love is a state of being. Your love is not outside; it is deep within you. You can never lose it, and it cannot leave you.”
“Watch any plant or animal and let it teach you acceptance of what is, surrender to the Now. Let it teach you Being. Let it teach you integrity — which means to be one, to be yourself, to be real. Let it teach you how to live and how to die, and how not to make living and dying into a problem.”
“Your outer journey may contain a million steps; your inner journey only has one: the step you are taking right now.”
“It is when we are trapped in incessant streams of compulsive thinking that the universe really disintegrates for us, and we lose the ability to sense the interconnectedness of all that exists.”
“Authentic human interactions become impossible when you lose yourself in a role.”
“You become most powerful in whatever you do if the action is performed for its own sake rather than as a means to protect, enhance, or conform to your role identity.”
“Give up defining yourself – to yourself or to others. You won’t die. You will come to life. And don’t be concerned with how others define you. When they define you, they are limiting themselves, so it’s their problem. Whenever you interact with people, don’t be there primarily as a function or a role, but as the field of conscious Presence. You can only lose something that you have, but you cannot lose something that you are.”
As you apply Tolle’s wisdom in your life, it’s important to remember that the power of Now does not lie in dissociation from your emotions or experience. Nor does it lie in denial of pain or challenges. It’s only through opening yourself up fully in each moment – to both comfort and discomfort – that you can learn to dissolve unnecessary pain and suffering and learn to live in more comfort and ease.
I would love to hear your thoughts on what you are doing to change your life in the coming days and years. If you have any questions please reach out to me via adam@adam-lawrence.org. I would love to hear from you!
Hello! My name is Adam and welcome to my space on the internet. Here you can find me writing about subjects such as spiritual growth, self-discovery, wellbeing, addiction recovery and mental health. Please connect with me on my journey and join the community!
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