Deepak Chopra · 115 pages
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“The Ego, however, is not who you really are. The ego is your self-image; it is your social mask; it is the role you are playing. Your social mask thrives on approval. It wants control, and it is sustained by power, because it lives in fear.”
“You accept things as they are, not as you wish they were in this moment. This is important to understand. You can wish for things in the future to be different, but in this moment you have to accept things as they are. When you feel frustrated or upset by a person or a situation, remember that you are not reacting to the person or the situation, but to your feelings about the person or the situation. These are your feelings, and your feelings are not someone else’s fault. When you recognize and understand this completely, you are ready to take responsibility for how you feel and to change it. And if you can accept things as they are, you are ready to take responsibility for your situation and for all the events you see as problems.”
“The past is history, the future is a mystery, and this moment is a gift. That is why this moment is called ‘the present’.”
“At the moment you consciously make a choice, pay attention to your body and ask your body, “If I make this choice, what happens?” If your body sends a message of comfort, that’s the right choice. If your body sends a message of discomfort, then it’s not the appropriate choice.”
“Attachment to money will always create insecurity no matter how much money you have in the bank.”
“I will release this list of my desires and surrender it to the womb of creation, trusting that when things don’t seem to go my way, there is a reason, and that the cosmic plan has designs for me much grander than even those that I have conceived.”
“Completely desist from defending your point of view. When you have no point to defend, you do not allow the birth of an argument.”
“If you want to transform your karma to a more desirable experience, look for the seed of opportunity within every adversity, and tie that seed of opportunity to your dharma, or purpose in life. This will enable you to convert the adversity into a benefit, and transform the karma into a new expression.”
“Consciously put your attention in the heart and ask your heart what to do.”
“When you struggle against this moment, you’re actually struggling against the entire universe.”
“I want to know God’s thoughts … the rest are details.”
“Attention energizes, and intention transforms. Whatever you put your attention on will grow stronger in your life. Whatever you take your attention away from will wither, disintegrate, and disappear.”
“Success in life could be defined as the continued expansion of happiness and the progressive realization of worthy goals.”
“Witness the choices you make in every moment. The best way to prepare for any moment in the future is to be fully conscious in the present.”
“Least effort is expended when our actions are motivated by love, because nature is held together by the energy of love.”
“What does responsibility mean? Responsibility means not blaming anyone or anything for your situation, including yourself. Having accepted this circumstance, this event, this problem, responsibility then means the ability to have a creative response to the situation as it is now. All problems contain the seeds of opportunity, and this awareness allows you to take the moment and transform it to a better situation or thing.”
“But first, become aware of the choices that you are making in every moment. The more you become aware of your choices, the more you will make choices that are spontaneously correct — both for you and for those around you.”
“Begin by asking yourself, “What message is the universe giving me? What can I learn from this experience, and how can I make it useful to my fellow human beings?”
“You become the victim of the past, and your tormentor today is your self left over from yesterday.”
“You can also transcend the seeds of your karma by becoming independent of it. The way to do this is to keep experiencing the Self, your spirit, by going into silent meditation and coming out again. This is like washing a dirty piece of cloth in a stream of water. Each time you wash it, you take away a few stains, and it gets a little cleaner.”
“When you seek power and control over other people, you waste energy. When you seek money or power for the sake of the ego, you spend energy chasing the illusion of happiness instead of enjoying happiness in the moment. When you seek money for personal gain only, you cut off the flow of energy to yourself, and interfere with the expression of nature’s intelligence. But when your actions are motivated by love, there is no waste of energy. When your actions are motivated by love, your energy multiplies and accumulates — and the surplus energy you gather and enjoy can be channeled to create anything that you want, including unlimited wealth.”
“But when our internal reference point is our spirit, our actions are motivated by love, and there is no waste of energy. Our energy multiplies, and the surplus energy we gather can be channeled to create anything we want, including unlimited wealth. When we harness the power of harmony and love, we use our energy creatively for the experience of affluence and evolution.”
“أن النَّجاح هُو رِحْلة و لَيس وجْهَة تَقْصدْها.”
“DNA is a perfect example of pure potentiality; in fact, it is the material expression of pure potentiality. The same DNA existing in every cell expresses itself in different ways in order to fulfill the unique requirements of that particular cell.”
“Be still, and know that I am God.”
“By looking at the behavior of the cells in our own body, we can observe the most extraordinary and efficient expression of The Seven Spiritual Laws. This is the genius of nature's intelligence. These are the thoughts of God - the rest are details.”
“Practicing silence means making a commitment to take a certain amount of time to simply Be. Experiencing silence means periodically withdrawing from the activity of speech. It also means periodically withdrawing from such activities as watching television, listening to the radio, or reading a book. If you never give yourself the opportunity to experience silence, this creates turbulence in your internal dialogue.”
“Every action is a karmic episode because action generates memory, memory generates desire, and desire generates action again. As you become conscious of these seeds of manifestation, you become a conscious choice maker, and the actions you generate will be evolutionary.”
“Whenever you make a choice, ask yourself two questions: “What are the consequences of this choice?” and “Will this choice bring happiness to me and to those who are affected by this choice?”
“We have stopped for a moment to encounter each other, to meet, to love, to share. This is a precious moment, but it is transient. It is a little parenthesis in eternity. If we share with caring, lightheartedness and love, we will create abundance and joy for each other. And then this moment will have been worthwhile.”
“Yeah, I loved her. I couldn't help it. She was my brother.”
“I knew how I sounded - slow and oafish, like the cousin who gets ditched and goes on playing alone, as if he'd planned it that way. I couldn't quite tell her about the daily beauty, how I didn't tire of seeing 6 a.m. light on the telephone wires. When I was younger, I'd expected to grow out of the gap between the self I knew and what I heard myself say. I'd expected to feel more like one single person.”
“But you reassure yourself that at least here they are safe from baleen whales and oil slicks and cocktail sauce.”
“By a man's fingernails, by his coat-sleeve, by his boots, by his trouser-knees, by the calluses of his forefinger and thumb, by his expression, by his shirt-cuffs, by his movements—by each of these things a man's calling is plainly revealed. That all united should fail to enlighten the competent enquirer in any case is almost inconceivable. SHERLOCK HOLMES, 1892”
“He loved me. I do not doubt that. In hindsight, I do not believe that I loved him. I simply felt his love for me, burning and all-consuming, and reflected it back, as the cold light of the moon reflects the light of the sun. I did not know that at the time. I thought I loved him.”
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