Secret to Being Happy

There is a very simple secret to being happy.
Just let go of your demand on this moment.

Adyashanti

Truly Free

For all those whose longing to
be truly free is becoming stronger
than their desire to distract
themselves from suffering.

Robert Augustus Masters

If I Had a Prayer

If I had a prayer, it would be this:
"God, spare me from the desire
for love, approval, or appreciation.
Amen."

Byron Katie

Never Tempted

I love what I think, and
I'm never tempted to believe it.

Byron Katie

The Way of It

That is the way of it.

Byron Katie

Everything the Beloved

When you love what is,
everything in the world
becomes the beloved.

Byron Katie

Beyond Your Capacity to Judge

Could it be that whatever
seems bad to you is just
something you haven't seen
clearly enough yet?
In reality - as it is in itself -
every thing, every person,
lies far beyond your capacity
to judge.

Byron Katie

Simply By Being

The Master leads simply by being.
The way she helps people is by living
out of don't-know, can't-know,
no-need-to-know, not-possible-to-know,
nothing-to-know.

Byron Katie

He Saved One Person

The most attractive thing about the Buddha
was that he saved one person - himself.

Byron Katie

Always the Student

I love being invisible. There's no responsibility in it,
no one to save, no one to teach, I'm always the student:
open, excited, new.

Byron Katie

The Best You Could

Think of the worst thing you ever did.
With the limited understanding you had then,
weren't you doing the best you could?

Byron Katie

Without Your Story

Who would you be without your story?
Pain-free, happy, and totally available
if someone needs you - a listener,
a teacher in the house, a Buddha in the house,
the one who lives it.

Byron Katie

That Last Little Piece

The world will test you in every way,
so that you can realize that last little piece
that's unfinished inside you.

Byron Katie

Who Would I Be?

Who would I be without the thought
that the world needs improving?

Byron Katie

They Could Hear Themselves

When you become quiet,
people can hear themselves.

Byron Katie

What Else is There?

Oh stories - I love them!
What else is there?

Byron Katie

Go Where You Wish

If you're centered in reality,
you can go where you wish
without danger.

Byron Katie

Everyone Your Teacher

When you're aware of being a student,
everyone in the world becomes your teacher.

Byron Katie

Gentlest Thing in the World

The gentlest thing in the world is an open mind.
Since it doesn't believe what it thinks, it is flexible,
porous, without opposition, without defense.
Nothing has power over it. Nothing can resist it.
Even the hardest thing in the world - a closed mind -
can't resist the power of openness.

Byron Katie

No Greater Illusion

There is no greater illusion
than fear.

Lao Tzu

Fight or Flight or Reality

It's your thoughts that scare you
into fight-or-flight - not reality.

Byron Katie

I Love You the Way You Are

I don't do anything but join you
wherever you have attached to a belief,
and the only reason I do The Work
with you is that you think you need it.
I don't have any such thought;
I love you the way you are.

Byron Katie

Life is Not Difficult

Life is not difficult.
It's your thinking that
makes it difficult.

Byron Katie

Show Me a Problem

Show me a problem that doesn't come
from believing an untrue thought.

Byron Katie

The Cause of Your Suffering

The only time you suffer is when
you believe a thought that argues
with reality. You are the cause of
your own suffering - but only
all of it.

Byron Katie

The Best Way

The best way, the only effective way,
is to serve as an example and not to
impose your will.

Byron Katie

Life is Simple

Life is simple. Everything happens for you,
not to you. Everything happens at exactly
the right moment, neither too soon nor
too late. You don't have to like it -
It's just easier if you do.

Byron Katie

Kinder to be a Student

It's painful to pretend that you're more evolved
than you are, to be in the position of a teacher
when it's kinder to yourself to be in the position
of a student.

Byron Katie

Be Honest

Don't be spiritual; be honest instead.

Byron Katie

Just Notice

There are no models, no ideals; the goal isn't
to be wise or spiritual, You just notice what is.
Don't pretend yourself beyond your own evolution.

Byron Katie

People Can Find Their Own Way

When they think they know the answers,
people are difficult to guide.
When they know that they don't know,
people can find their own way.

Lao Tzu

No Problems

Problems are not possible, except
when you believe what you're thinking.

Byron Katie

Do You Really Want to Know?

I love to ask someone who sits with me,
"Do you really want to know the truth?"

Byron Katie

No Danger

No one is in danger of losing anything
but his identification.

Byron Katie

The Best Leader

The best leader follows
the will of the people.

Lao Tzu

Your "Enemy"

Your enemy is the teacher who shows you
what you haven't healed yet. All enemies
are your kind teachers, just waiting for
you to realize it. (And that doesn't mean
you have to invite them to dinner.)

Byron Katie

Open Mind

The mind open to being questioned
is the only mind that can take this journey.
The open mind is fearless in its quest
to live without suffering.

Byron Katie

What is Adversity?

What is adversity?
It's simply when your story
doesn't match reality.

Byron Katie

Let It Take You

When you know that you don't know,
you're naturally open to reality and can
let it take you wherever it wants to.

Byron Katie

We Change

Things do not change:
We change.

Henry David Thoreau

I Contain Multitudes

Do I contradict myself?
Very well, then I contradict myself.
I am large.
I contain multitudes.

Walt Whitman

Tired of Speaking Sweetly

Love wants to reach out and manhandle us,
break all our teacup talk of God.
If you had the courage and could
give the Beloved His choice, some nights,
He would just drag you around the room
by your hair, ripping from your grip
all those toys in the world
that bring you joy.
Love sometimes gets tired of speaking sweetly
and wants to rip to shreds
all your erroneous notions of truth
that make you fight within yourself,
dear one, and with others,
causing the world to weep
on too many fine days.
God wants to manhandle us,
lock us inside of a tiny room with Himself
and practice his dropkick.
The Beloved sometimes wants
to do us a great favor:
hold us upside down
and shake all the nonsense out.
But when we hear
He is in such a "playful drunken mood,"
most everyone I know
quickly packs their bags and hightails it
out of town.

Jalāl al-Dīn Rumi

A War Like No Other

It's an invitation you may not be able to accept
if you want to, or decline if you don't.
It's an invitation to fight in a war like no other;
a war where loss is counted as gain,
surrender as victory, and where the enemy you must face,
an enemy of unimaginable superiority,
is yourself.

Jed McKenna

Bud vs. Blossom

And the day came when
the risk to remain tight in a bud
was more painful than
the risk it took to blossom.

Anais Nin

Only Their Names Remain

On many long journeys have I gone.
And waited, too, for others to return
from journeys of their own.
Some return; some are broken;
some come back so different
only their names remain.

Yoda, Jedi Warrior

I Serve You; I Am You

When I don't know who I am,
I serve you.
When I know who I am,
I am you.

Hanuman (to Ram in the Ramayana)

The Truth?

Do you really want to know the truth?

Byron Katie

Such a Being's Work

You and the guru and all of the beings
who have stayed free and separate
enjoy the dance of being perfect instruments
of the will of God.
Sitting by with a deep sense of pain
at the unnecessary suffering
created by the will of man and yet,
allowing it to be.
For such a being's work is only
with those beings who have started
to reach towards God.

Ram Dass

Tell the Truth

Always tell the truth.

Neem Karoli Baba  (Maharaj-ji)

The Deeper You Go

The deeper you go,
the less you know,
the more you are.

Ram Dass

Cease to React

If you are willing to look at another person's behavior
toward you as a reflection of the state of their relationship
with themselves rather than a statement about your value
as a person, then you will, over a period of time,
cease to react at all.

Yogi Bhajan

How Can He Teach What He Isn't?

Maharaj-ji:   Does your teacher have desires?
Ram Dass:    Yes, but he told me not to have desires.
Maharaj-ji:   Do you have desires?
Ram Dass:    Yes.
Maharaj-ji:   Then he didn't teach you.
                          How can he teach what he isn't?

Pointing Us to Our Freedom

Our parents, our children, our spouses,
and our friends will continue to press
every button we have, until we realize
what it is that we don't want to know
about ourselves, yet. They will point
us to our freedom every time.

Byron Katie

It Has To Be You

Peace doesn't require two people;
it requires only one.
It has to be you.
The problem begins and ends there.

Byron Katie

Truth vs. Consistency

I am not at all concerned
with appearing to be consistent.
In my pursuit after Truth
I have discarded many ideas
and learned many new things.

Mahatma Gandhi