Category Archives: Quotes – 2009

Quotes - 2009

They are not the thing itself…

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For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited. – C.S. Lewis

Many of our desires are good. They’re good because they uncover in us the longing that leads to the very source of all such desires. The desire itself might be for a material object, say a digital camera. The question to ask though is, what’s it about a camera that really intrigues us? Is it a desire to know others in a deep way? Is it the need to appreciate beauty around us? Or is it to catalog precious memories that make life worthwhile? What’s even deeper than that?

By asking such questions we can understand better what will satisfy us deep inside. It won’t be the camera (‘they are not the thing itself’) it’ll be what the camera evokes inside us, it’ll also be the experiences that the camera enables in our lives and it’ll be the meaning that we discover.

What joy are you seeking in life? Is it the intermediate form or is it that which is deeper and truer?

Recommendation: Meditations (Penguin Classics)

Meditations (Penguin Classics)

Quotes - 2009, Stillness

A Great Wind bears you!

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Sometimes I go about in pity for myself, and all the while a great wind is bearing me across the sky. – Ojibway saying

When ever you’re sad, feel the blues and otherwise don’t know what depresses you, a bit of stillness might be in order. In that stillness remind yourself that being alive is proof that the ‘great wind’, the might Spirit, the cause of all causes supports us and is with us. The stillness allows us to connect to that which is.

Take comfort in the fact that you really do matter and that another day will yet dawn.

Recommendation:

God Is Closer Than You Think: This Can Be the Greatest Moment of Your Life Because This Moment Is the Place Where You Can Meet God

Quotes - 2009, Stillness

Creative solitude

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One of the greatest necessities is to discover creative solitude. – Carl Sandburg

Carl Sandburg provides the secret to all that we truly crave. To connect with our inner creativity, to connect with that place where joy and peace flow from, solitude and stillness time is essential.

When we’re still; the juices start to flow, it’s something you shouldn’t deny yourself, it’s the very wellspring that leads to your ultimate wellbeing!

Recommendation: The Artist’s Way

The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity [10th Anniversary Edition]

Quotes - 2009

Seeing with new eyes!

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The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. – Marcel Proust

Most of us have this constant urge to do something else, to be something else and be somewhere else. Which is all good because there’s a reason this urge exists. What is that reason for you?

There’s another way we can channel this urge, this desire for adventure, and that is by having new eyes.

New eyes to see things differently, new eyes to hear/judge and interact with others in a fresh way. New eyes that will turn our current assumptions, goals, opinions and judgments 180 degrees, or may be only 90 degrees!

One way to see differently is by staying more present and in the Now. Our thoughts and past opinions don’t then cloud our ongoing experience.

Recommendation: The Power of Now

The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment

Quotes - 2009

Want roses? Plant rose trees!

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It will never rain roses: When we want to have more roses we must plant more trees. – George Eliot

We reap what we sow. We must be clear about our intentions, our desires and our goals. We ought to know our life goals, even our Life Purpose.

How is it possible to get what we truly want when we don’t know what we want?

How would do you come to know what you deeply desire?

Recommendation: True Purpose

 True Purpose: 12 Strategies for Discovering the Difference You Are Meant to Make

Quotes - 2009, Stillness

How’s your inner life?

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In proportion as our inward life fails, we go more constantly and desperately to the post-office. – Henry David Thoreau

The modern day equivalent to the Post Office is email, the internet and the cell phone! When we don’t have a satisfying inner life, we run towards outwardly distractions to occupy our minds. We fill our precious time with chores and activities so that we don’t have to confront the emptiness of our own lives.

What’s the inner life? It’s our thoughts and psyche. It’s our self-perception and sense of self-worth. It’s also our chance of touching base with the very reality that created all. An essence of God resides within us, ever waiting for the time when our minds can be a little still. The inner life is our relationship with this essence.

Contact is made slowly and gently. It’s the portal to a peace and contentment that cannot be found without.

Check it out.

Recommendation: Tao Te Ching by Lao-Tse

Tao Te Ching