Sacred Journey of the Peaceful Warrior

The first step to change,... is accepting your reality right now. Honoring your process. Compassionate self-awareness leads to change; harsh self-criticism only holds the pattern in place, creating a stubborn and defensive Basic Self. Be gentle with yourself as you would with a child. Be gentle but firm. Give yourself the space to grow. But remember that the timing is in god's hands, not yours. page~147

Before you can see the Light, you have to deal with the darkness.

Faith is the courage to live your life as if everything that happens does so for your highest good and learning. Like it or not.

We cannot always do great things in life, but we can do small things with great love.

There is no way to peace; Peace is the Way. There is no way to happiness; Happiness is the Way. There is no way to love; Love is the Way.

To really help people, you first need to understand them—but first understand yourself, prepare yourself; develop the clarity, the courage, and the sensitivity to exert the right leverage, in the right place, at the right time. Then your actions will have power. History,” he added, “holds many examples of individuals and nations who acted without the wisdom to foresee the consequences

We must pass through solitude and difficulty, isolation and silence, to find that enchanted place where we can dance our clumsy dance and sing our sorrowful song. But in that dance, and in that song, the most ancient rites of our conscience fulfill themselves in the awareness of being human. —Pablo Neruda, Toward the Splendid City

Just handle what's in front of you now. and the future will take care of itself. Otherwise, you'll spend most of your life wondering which foot you'll use to step off the curb when you're still only halfway to the corner.

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

The seed of God is in us: Pear seeds grow into pear trees; Hazel seeds into hazel trees; And God seeds into God. —Meister Eckehart

Ignorance, as well as wisdom, is handed down from one generation to the next like a precious heirloom.

When energy is thrown away without purpose or wisdom, you feel an instinctive loss of life, a sense of sorrow.

infant. There was no shame in being seen, no disgrace in being human.

But energy must flow somewhere,” his voice continued. “Where energy meets obstructions, it burns — and if energy builds up beyond what a given individual can tolerate, it demands release. Anger grows into rage, sorrow turns to despair, concern becomes obsession, and physical aches become agony. So energy can also be a curse. Like a river, it can bring life, but untamed it can unleash a raging flood of destruction.

It’s different,” I said. “No,” she replied. “You are.

Warriors confront their demons head-on; by doing so, you’ve dissolved them,

If I am not for myself, Who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, What am I? And if not now, when? — Hillel, Sayings of the Fathers

Yet acting without understanding may create even more problems. Sometimes you need to simply relax into life, and to trust.

The first step to change, as I expect Socrates showed you, is accepting your reality right now. Honoring your process. Compassionate self-awareness leads to change; harsh self-criticism only holds the patterns in place, creating a stubborn and defensive Basic Self. Be gentle with yourself as you would with a child. Be gentle but firm. Give yourself the space to grow. But remember that the timing is in God’s hands, not yours.

You will look forward to getting up each day just to help another soul, another part of your Self.

What is to give light must endure burning.

To the fish, the sea is air.

A helpful rainsquall washed the papaya juice from my face and hands and chest; then the sun dried me, and the wind blow-dried my hair and beard.

This magical night seemed unreal, or rather, as real as a dream.

The forest didn’t really change much at night, but I did.

Sull'acqua, sotto il mare, in alto nel bosco sarai. Fidati del tuo istinto, nel mare; riporta a me il tuo tesoro. Se lo troverai, come dovresti, viaggerai, giorno e notte. Appena lo vedrai, lo saprai, come sopra così sotto. Quando lo avrai afferrato, sarai pronto ad attraversare il mare.

The secret of success in life: Prepare for opportunity when it comes. —Benjamin Disraeli