Inspiration

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I believe there are many of us who are sharing a similar journey through life.

We feel a sense of separation and alienation from our world,
our friends and loved ones,
and even ourselves.
We need and want
to live in a deeper and more meaningful relationship
with our world and the people in it.
We want to be living fuller, richer lives,
Lives of more dancing and singing, more celebrating.
We want to make time more precious.
We want to live more in the spiritual dimension of life,
the spiritual dimension of time and space.

We speak of being at one with the world.

We speak of loving those who are near to us as we love ourselves.

We are searching, if not for answers, then at least for questions
To help us live the life we want to live.
      — Martin Buber


You may search for Me
if you'd like
as though I were somewhere else

But I am Right Here
Right Now

It is you who are not always here.
      — Martin Buber


Speak to yourself
Everything depends on you
The conflicts between you and others
Are nothing but the conflicts in your own soul.

Overcome this inner conflict
So that you may go out to him and her
And enter into new, transformed relationships.

Seek peace in your own place
You cannot find peace anywhere except in your own place.
When you have made peace within yourself
You will be able to make peace in the whole world.
      — Martin Buber


Strange is our situation here upon earth
Each of us comes for a short visit, not knowing why, yet sometimes seems to divine a purpose.
From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know:
That people are here for the sake of other people.
Above all, for those upon whose smile and well-being our own happiness depends
And also for the countless unknown souls with whose fate we are connected by a bond of sympathy.
Many times a day I realize how much my own outer and inner life is built upon the labors of others people, both living and dead.
And how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much as I have received
And I am still receiving
      — Albert Einstein


Our greatest task may be to help people rid themselves of the illusion that we are all separate.
      — Albert Einstein


When you are present, when your attention is fully and intensely in the Now, Being can be felt. You can know it only when the mind is still. (Being) is a state of connectedness with something immeasurable and indestructible, something that, almost paradoxically, is essentially you and yet is much greater than you. The inability to feel this connectedness gives rise to the illusion of separation, from yourself and from the world around you.
      — Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now


I believe the greatest gift
I can conceive of having from anyone
Is to be seen by them,
Heard by them,
To be understood and touched by them.
The greatest gift I can give
Is to see, hear,
Understand and touch another person.
      — Virginia Satir


It's never too late to have a happy childhood.
      — several attributions


I began to think of children not as immature adults, but of adults as atrophied children.
      — Keith Johnstone


This being human is a guesthouse.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
Because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
      — Rumi


Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
there is a field. I'll meet you there.

When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase each other
doesn't make any sense.
      — Rumi


The most complete and true happiness comes in moments when you feel right there, completely present, with no ideas about good and bad, right and wrong — just a sense of open heart and open mind.
      — Pema Chodron


What is split off, not felt, remains the same. When it is felt, it changes. Most people don't know this. They think that by not permitting the feeling of their negative ways they make themselves good. On the contrary, that keeps those negatives static, the same from year to year. A few moments of feeling it in your body allows it to change. If there is in you something bad or sick or unsound, let it inwardly be, and breathe. That's the only way it can evolve and change into the form it needs.
      — Eugene Gendlin, developer of Focusing


The radical acceptance of everything brings a new possibility of trust, a feeling of greater wholeness. We are no longer guardians of the gate, watching to allow in some experiences and exclude others. Instead, we are holders of the open space that includes whatever wants to come. We are not afraid of what comes. We know that there are no enemies in the inner world. The spirit is one of inclusion, not exclusion. The attitude is one of welcome.
      — Ann Weiser Cornell


I am human, so nothing human is alien to me.
      — Terence, Roman playwright


Whenever you relate to something you experience, and the quality of that relating is interested, curious, non-judging, you are developing your capacity for Presence. You can then be a compassionate Companion to what needs your attention. You can be with what is there, not in it, not denying it or doubting it.

The first thing you can do to cultivate Presence is take time to sense where it feels spacious, flowing, alive in your body right now. Any time you are aware of fresh air, peace, compassion, equanimity, connected-with-and-yet-separate-from, you can welcome these feelings and notice how this lives in your body.
      — Ann Weiser Cornell & Barbara McGavin


Awareness without judgment is the first step to change.
      — Moshe Feldenkrais


It is very difficult to change. But we can transform. Transformation starts with accepting ourselves exactly as we are right now. We can aspire, but trying doesn't work. We can aspire and stay soft. Trying hardens us.
      — Pema Chodron (paraphrase)


For neural pathways to form, it takes many times of repeating something. As you repeat, the pattern that has formed goes deeper and deeper and deeper. If you begin a new pattern, the synaptic connection needs time to deepen. If you stop doing the new pattern for a while, the deeper old pattern will quickly reassert itself. Without having developed a new pattern, you're trying to replace something with nothing. That's why "will power" doesn't work.
      — Anat Baniel (paraphrase)


I am the garden
But I'm also the gardener.
      — Rebecca Riots


Anxiety plus Oxygen equals Excitement.
      — Fritz Perles


Can you feel the subtle energy field that pervades the entire body and gives vibrant life to every organ and every cell? Can you feel it simultaneously in all parts of the body as a single field of energy? ... The more attention you give it, the clearer and stronger this feeling will become. ... Feel the inner body even when engaged in everyday activities. Feel the stillness deep inside it. Keep the portal open.
      — Eckhart Tolle


The more you are identified with your thinking, your likes and dislikes, judgments and interpretations, which is to say the less present you are as the watching consciousness, the stronger the emotional energy charge will be, whether you are aware of it or not. If you cannot feel your emotions, if you are cut off from them, you will eventually experience them on a physical level, as a problem or symptom.
      — Eckhart Tolle


From ancient perspectives in different cultures to recent research on the physiology of the nervous system, more insight is being gained on the mysterious, yet self-evident mind-body connection. Research and empirical data suggests that chronic and acute back pain, irritable bowel, jaw pain, tension and migraine headaches, skin rashes including eczema, some pelvic and prostatic pain can be caused or worsened by emotions such as tension, anger, fear, and grief.
      — David Schecter, M.D. www.mindbodymedicine.com


Emotions consist of Energy plus a Story. If we let go of the story, only the energy is left.
      — Trumpa Rimpoche


New Quotes:

For spirituality to truly make a difference — to actually matter...in our lives, we must be able to feel it in our guts, our throats, our expanding hearts. Body and spirit awaken together, and they work in concert to restore us to ourselves. If we miss this, we risk missing what's most meaningful and potentially healing about spirituality — however we chose to define it.
      — Marian Sandmaier


Sometimes rest is the highest spiritual practice.
      — Tom Yeomans


What are the real needs of an adult? They are self-expression, growth, development, reaching one's spiritual potential, and everything that accrues from that. This means pleasure, love, fulfillment, good relationships, and a meaningful contribution to the great plan in which everyone has his or her task.
      — Eva Pierrakos, The Pathwork Series


Do not abandon the longing that comes from the sense that your life could be much more, that there is a state in which you can...function on a level of inner resilience, contentment and security; where you are capable of deep feelings, of blissful pleasure; where you (can) meet life without fear because you no longer fear yourself.
      — Eva Pierrakos, The Pathwork Series


I am tired of containing my energy for the comfort of those around me.
      — Student


The body really is the engine of aliveness, of thought. As long as people don't feel their bodies, we're wasting our time and theirs trying to do talking psychotherapy....Becoming comfortable in their bodies is the number one, paramount issue....People need to learn to regulate their physical states in order to get their minds to work. Once they shift their physiological patterns, their thinking can change.
      — Bessel Van Der Kolk, psychiatrist, expert on trauma


The mind is there to explain our behavior to us. It says, "Don't worry, there's a reason why you're doing this." But it does''t care what the reason is. It will make up a reason if it has to. The mind protects us by fulfilling our deep need to believe that we are logical beings. We can thank it for doing it's job. But we don't have to believe it."
      — Peter Levine, founder of Somatic Experiencing (paraphrase)


Breathe a sigh of relief. The murmur of the breath as it gently passes through the vocal chords makes for the sweetest ending. A measure of happiness is how often we sigh with ease.
      — Poster on a friend's wall


Take the emptiness you hold in your arms
and scatter it into the open space we breathe.
Maybe the birds will feel
how the air is thinner
and fly with more affection.
      — Rilke

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