When you run in fear, it’s square into the wall.
Never be fooled into believing that there is one speck out of order.
It’s not the problem that causes our suffering; it’s our thinking about the problem.
You’ve never reacted to someone else. You project meaning onto nothing. And you react to the meaning you’ve projected.
Stress never feels as natural as peace does.
Judge your neighbor, write it down. Ask four questions, turn it around.
Reality is always the story of a past, and what I love about the past is – it’s over.
If I think that someone else is causing my problem, I’m insane.
We suffer only until we realize that we can’t know anything.
That’s the purpose of stress. It’s a friend. It’s an alarm clock, built in to let you know that it’s time to do The Work.
I love what I think, and I’m never tempted to believe it. Thoughts are like the wind or the leaves on the trees or the raindrops falling. They’re not personal, they don’t belong to us, they just come and go. When they’re met with understanding, they’re friends.
The ability to understand the cause of your own suffering gives you the ability to understand ours.
Clarity moves much more efficiently than violence or stress.
I have discovered that in every language and every country I have visited, there are no new stories. They’re all recycled. The same stressful thoughts arise in each mind one way or another, sooner or later.
Put your stressful thoughts on paper, question them, and have a great life.
We’ve been looking outside us for our own peace. We’ve been looking in the wrong direction.
No one can hurt me – that’s my job.
What would it be like to let go of wanting things to be other than they are?
When we believe in our thoughts, when we tell ourselves a story, we suffer. ‘My husband doesn’t respect me.’ ‘I should be thinner.’ Those are stories. When there’s no story, there’s no suffering.
I havent had a single thought for 26 years. I have only understanding. Its somewhat complicated to understand that. Ive hardly ever spoken about it. Youre in a state of total peace of mind. A kind of nirvana.