Henry Miller was a writer and artist who tested the boundaries of the literary world by incorporating mysticism, self-enquiry and philosophy into his work. Here are 7 Provocative Henry Miller Quotes That Will Ignite Your Soul

He was so controversial in fact, that in 1938 the American government banned one of his books for being in opposition to what was perceived to be moral at the time.

7 Provocative Henry Miller Quotes That Will Ignite Your Soul

1- One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.
– Henry Miller

Our life journey can be shifted and altered at any time based on our perception, awareness and ability – or courage – to apply critical thinking to what it is we are experiencing. When we realise that we all have the power to shift the way we see things, a new level of empowerment is immediately uncovered.

2- The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware.
-Henry Miller

Awareness is a powerful tool that allows us to be present and in the moment. When we slow down and allow ourselves to just BE then life in all of its messy and wondrous glory, has the chance to unfold right in front of our eyes.

3- Everything we shut our eyes to, everything we run away from, everything we deny, denigrate or despise, serves to defeat us in the end.
–Henry Miller

I have learnt that there is no running from the wounded parts of ourselves. No matter how hard we try to avoid them, those parts will show up eventually. This is why it is so important to practice self-enquiry. Self-enquiry means looking into the parts of who we are that we perceive as bad or negative – and integrating them. When we truly embrace the whole of who we are – we are free.

4- I made up my mind that I would hold onto nothing, that I would expect nothing.
-Henry Miller

One of the best ways to feel disappointed in life is to hold onto expectations. We do it all the time – with ourselves, other people, even the weather! But life has its own plan, and people have their own challenges and idiosyncrasies. When we choose to accept people as they are and allow life to be as it is, we cause ourselves a lot less pain and anguish.

5- If there is to be any peace it will come through being, not having.
-Henry Miller

Peace comes from acceptance of what IS. When we are in alignment with life and its messy ways, we have the opportunity to experience true, lasting peace. The pain is always in the resistance.

6- The one thing we can never get enough of is love. And the one thing we never give enough of is love.
-Henry Miller

Love is something every single person needs and wants, yet at times we find it hard to give out freely. I believe the strongest, bravest people in the world are those who still choose to give love despite experiencing insurmountable pain. The world needs us all to give a little love now more than ever. The wonderful thing is that love is never-ending. You cannot run out of it. 

7- Develop an interest in life as you see it; the people, things, literature, music – the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people. Forget yourself.
– Henry Miller Quotes

There is a great big world out there, but so often we get caught in the mediocrity of our day to day world. Jobs, kids, bosses, neighbours – we live in a state of rinse and repeat only seeing a small version of what’s possible. Life is not meant to be this way. We are here to have an experience if we only allow ourselves that permission. This does not mean acquiring material possessions or living like a celebrity, in fact, you can live a life full of wonder quite simply. 

It all comes down to embracing the world around you with wonder. It means taking the time to appreciate all that is, in every moment. The smile of a child, the smell of the ocean, music, books and art. Beauty is everywhere if you look for it.

I hope these quite have touched your heart, and if you have any favourite Henry Miller quotes, share it in the comments!

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This Is Why We Suffer (and This Is How We End Suffering)

Speaker: Peter Crone

Transcript – Peter Crone on Suffering and How To End Our Own Internal Suffering:

The way life occurs to us is that there’s always somewhere to get to, until you realize that there isn’t

…Similarly suffering is always present until we realize that there isn’t suffering. And that to me is the beauty of the human experience.

So, suffering is unavoidable by virtue of we’re here, but nonetheless, the opportunity, the possibility that it is to be human is to transcend suffering.

And it’s such a beautiful design again, because if it weren’t for the previous suffering, we don’t get to experience the latter freedom.

As an adult, I got to see myself in a picture and all black and white of me as a child and my cute little onesy, whatever it is running with my arms out, my mother is sort of very gently ushering me from behind. So you can see that she’s sort of directing me towards somebody who you can’t see because they’re off camera. They’re out of frame from the picture. But I know because of the setting, it was set at a Harbor at a dock where the boat had just, you know, come to birth and we’ve probably come off the boat and I’m running towards my dad because my dad worked on the boats. And as I looked at that photo and it’s this whole black and white, and this adorable little child, which you know, is running towards his father, who he loves his dad. And what had occurred to me is at that moment, one of the most important parts of love is the energy of missing somebody.

We often think that love is I’m with someone I’m sharing a dinner with them, I’m going to bed with them, or it could be a family member who I’m living with or I’m sharing time with constantly. But that denies the flip side of the same coin, which is one of the most beautiful aspects of love is what feels like the absence of the experience of love. And we can call that missing somebody… and why it was so profound for me is to see that little child run towards his dad with the excitement of the fact that for a minute, for minutes, maybe a day, maybe a week, it could be longer…. We experience the separation from that, which we love.

And if it weren’t for the experience of separation, we would not appreciate the joy of love.

And so why I use that example as it relates to suffering and freedom is because separation is hurtful, it’s painful, and that is suffering. And in this case, suffering is where we become separate from the knowledge, from the true wisdom of our true essence, whilst freedom is the remembrance and the awakening to the essence of who I am at my core, which is freedom.

So the two are inextricably connected and simultaneously necessary in order to experience one or the other.

If it weren’t for the experience of missing, I don’t get to go to the depths of the joy of love and equally, if it weren’t for the pain and the seeming inconvenience of human suffering, then I wouldn’t get to experience the elation and the joy of liberation that is true freedom.

When you really understand that dynamic…. it’s so beautiful to see the duality of everything. And I would actually take it a little deeper, which is to say the freedom really is the container. Like the love is the container that holds both.

We have the joy and we have the misery, we have the happiness and we have the sadness. And this is where if we can be big enough, expanded enough as human beings that we make space for all of it… it would be as nonsensical.

You know, for people who think they just want to be positive and happy, that is like asinine. It would be like me saying, no, no, no. All I want to do is inhale. Cause that’s so good. You get oxygen. If you’re like, what the hell? Like if it weren’t for the fact that I get to exit and let go of, you know, in this case, obviously physiologically biologically the toxins of carbon dioxide and stuff that no longer serves me because it’s already served its purpose in my body. Then I wouldn’t get the joy of having that cyclical process of inhale exhale that keeps me alive.

So similarly, the actual nature of duality, both parts are flip sides of the same coin that are an inherent experience of being human. And the degree to which we can embrace both is the degree to which we are truly free to allow all aspects of what it means to be human.

So suffering is really one aspect, but it is an aspect where there is ultimately a form of ignorance. And I don’t mean that as a judgment. I mean, it truly, in the fact that we don’t know something.

We suffer because we don’t know how extraordinary we are. We suffer because we don’t know that we actually are loved. We don’t, we suffer because we don’t feel safe. And it is in that ignorance than not knowing the absence of knowledge that we suffer.

And the process of awakening is realizing, Oh, these are lies. And as I transcend lie, I expand into my bigger nature, which then is the experience of liberation, which is contained in the safety that we are held and beneficiaries of life, because we are fundamentally loved.

The way I look at it is that this dimension that we are in as human beings to me is a revelatory dimension. What does that mean? Life will reveal where you yourself, as a being do not experience freedom.

Life will present you with people and circumstances to reveal where you’re not free.

So why is that a completely different perspective or different way of looking at the experience of life? Because most people are playing the human game. What is the human game they’re trying to accumulate, right? Accumulation of status, accumulation of possessions, accumulation of finance. And they’re trying to play the game of I’m becoming a better human by virtue of what I have usually… now that’s not wrong, but it’s also, to me, it’s a powerless game to play.

Whereas the awakening process of who I am as a being who is limitless, who is in its infancy and its true inherent nature, nothing but love peace, power, freedom.

That is to me, the game, that’s really at foot for human beings. That is the opportunity that it is to be a human is to awaken to the true essence of who I am rather than being defined by the persona that has been conditioned over time. That is now founded in the essence of survival. That is two entirely different approaches to the human experience. One is linear and one is vertical, right? So linear is okay, hopefully over time I’m going to improve. I got a promotion, I got a corner office. I got a bigger home. I’ve got a nicer car. I’ve got a little bit more money. That is, you know, there’s again, no judgment, but it is a futile dead end method of trying to find internal value by using external and exogenous means to bring some sense of worth.. versus discovering. Wow. My inherent nature is freedom.

My inherent nature is love. My inherent nature is peace and life is constantly giving me the opportunity to awaken to those qualities by virtue of presenting to me ironically, where I don’t experience that.

So that’s why, again, I said, life will present you with people and circumstances to reveal where you’re not free.

We often look as those circumstances as frustrating as things we don’t want, but that’s precisely why they’re being given to us because we’ve yet to see how powerful and extraordinary we are that we have yet to integrate those experiences and see that I can truly be with whatever is occurring and maintain my inner sense of peace and freedom and love.

We arrive as beings, but shrouded in constraint, we arrive as souls, but constrained by fear and the game of this particular dimension of planet earth and being human is Oh, awesome. We are set here so that we can reveal where we are confined, constrained and have some sense of separation and limitation. And so life is the process of sloughing by virtue of these trials and tribulations. And these sort of confronting circumstances really is a form of resistance, which just like polishing a diamond is allowing us to recognize where we still feel constrained or we arrived with our bucket of fears. And as I say, you know, the “ winner of the game” is who can get rid of their fears the the fastest, not that there is any urgency, but we could say, and I would assert the true liberation and true freedom, which is my main product is when we have confronted all of the fears that we arrived with to recognize that in fact, there is nothing to fear itself whatsoever. And that was always just a narrative that was part of our persona or our ego. That was just simply the cocoon in which we found we needed to live in order to stay safe. When in fact it’s quite the antithesis of that, which is true. Security is when I no longer need the illusion of external security.

If the experience I have with another person is of some form of disharmony, of judgment of hostility. Then that really is a reflection of what’s going on inside of me.

So as I say, as we express, so we experience, right. So if I’m expressing anger towards whoever or whatever the circumstance may be, then I am experiencing anger, right? So this, this water travels through say a garden hose. If the garden hose was sent in today, I had a feeling internally, it would feel the passage of the water when it was cold or hot, or how fast it’s moving. So likewise as we express our emotional state, we’re under the impression that it’s by virtue of what’s going on outside of us, but whether it is or not in terms of our interpretation when nonetheless experiencing all of that.

So then why wouldn’t I, if I know that correlation, if I’m, if I’m actually aware of that formula, then why wouldn’t I, wherever possible, bring an experience of love and joy to whoever it might be, because then I’m equally the beneficiary of it. And this is why exercises like gratitude journals or going and being a volunteer and being of service to a community feels good. Why does it feel good? Because what I’m actually doing is I’m bringing the experience of my true self is what I would have saw and I’m sharing to another, I’m giving to another. And therefore I am equally the beneficiary of my own active contribution.

You know, Einstein said, you either, you look at the universe in one of two ways, everything is a miracle or nothing’s a miracle, right? And so really when you get, we are beneficiaries of life, even though again, I’ve been through a ton of what felt like unnecessarily hardship that at the time, my little persona was like, I don’t want this. This sucks, but really in hindsight is often the case we’ve recognized. Wow. If it weren’t for those events, if it weren’t for those hardships, then I wouldn’t have discovered that expansiveness of what I’ve just stepped into and why I use the expression that smooth seas never made a good sailor, right? So we need adversity itself is the catalyst for growth. It is. Life is the greatest teacher by virtue of the fact that it gives us challenges so that it can, as I said earlier, slough off anything that is confining us, anything that is holding us back a constraint that is in some way, limiting ourself expression, we need some resistance to get rid of that.

And that is at times a very difficult pill to swallow, but it is nonetheless the catalyst to discover that really we are held eternally.

It’s like the metaphor of the image of these trapeze artists, right? The experience for anybody who goes up on a trapeze from the perspective of the ego is fear. If there’s no net, right? You, you would feel such trepidation of letting go of the trapeze bar to transition maybe to your partner and be caught in the absence of knowing there was some safety net and that’s the ego’s experiences. It goes through life. It feels that at any turn its existence is in potential danger. Everything can come across as a potential threat, and that’s an exhausting place to live from.

Conversely, if we can tap into this deeper essence of understanding the nature of life and particularly the nature of who we are, then at every turn, there is always a safety net. It might not feel like it, but we can drop, we can fall. We can miss the grip of the partners. We transitioned from trapeze bar to trapeze bar and it’s okay. And that we could say our errors and mistakes are failures and it’s okay.

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NON JAR – NON Judgement, NON Attachment and NON Resistance to Life

“NON Judgement, NON Attachment and NON Resistance to Life” (Motivational Video) – Watch On Youtube:

Speaker: Josiah Ruff for Fearless Soul | Music from Abounding Ambient | © Fearless Soul
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Transcript – “NON Judgement, NON Attachment and NON Resistance to Life”

Today I would like to propose to you a way of living, that if you TRULY project this out into the world… not only will it make YOUR LIFE instantly more magical and peaceful, but it will improve the lives of EVERYONE you come into contact with.

It’s not THE magic pill… but it will bring a feeling of magic into your life, if you live by it.
 
 It’s not a winning lottery ticket… but if you live by these principles, you won’t need a winning lottery ticket… or any amount of money, because HOW YOU FEEL will be the reward, and no amount of money can buy a beautiful existence.

No amount of money can buy a FEELING of contentment, no amount of money can buy peace or joy.

What is this way of living?
 
It’s called NON-JAR.

N.O.N. J.A.R.


Living in a state of complete
 NON-JUDGEMENT,
 NON-ATTACHMENT…
 and NON-RESISTANCE to whatever shows up in your life.

Let’s dive deeper into the principles… If you give me your attention for the next few minutes, I promise it will be a game changer for you.

NON-JUDGEMENT.
 


How often do we, human beings judge every situation and circumstance that comes into our lives, as GOOD or BAD?

How often have we all judged situations and circumstances we perceived as BAD at the time, but really they led to something that ultimately changed our lives for the better.

Maybe it was a break-up that was devastating at the time, but, when looking back seems like the biggest blessing.
 Maybe it was a job loss or difficult time financially that we labelled and judged as bad at the time, but if did not happen, we would not be in the great position we are now in, or doing what we now love.

Think of an example in your life where you have judged a situation or circumstance negatively, but it turned out to be a blessing in some way.

Think of a time when you’ve judged a person in some way and looking back, you were wrong to do so.

The truth is WE DO NOT KNOW anything.
 We can judge and label situations all we like… but we do NOT KNOW ANYTHING.
 
 We can’t possibly know the GREATER LESSON or FUTURE BLESSING any situation has for our life in the moment it happens.

When we step back, especially in difficult situations, and OBSERVE rather than JUDGE, we can RESPOND BETTER… with more love for others, with more love for the situation and most importantly with more LOVE for ourselves.

When we respond in PRESENCE rather than in JUDGEMENT we can respond BETTER and the flow on effect will mean a better life, a life with more EASE and JOY.

NON-ATTACHMENT


It has been said that “Attachment is the source of all suffering.”

Every human being is guilty of this at some point, but perhaps more so the ambitious ones or the “achievers” among us.

It’s those situations in which we are so attached to an outcome that we IDENTIFY with it… and if the outcome doesn’t work out as planned we get upset, depressed or maybe feel a loss of our sense of self.

You might have experienced this feeling when being attached to a person in a relationship…
 or being attached to a certain financial position…
 Being attached to how you are perceived by others…
 Being attached to a RESULT you’ve been working towards…

Non-Attachment is being able to live and thrive in this world, without being attached to any person, any thought, feeling, emotion or any OUTCOME in any way…

NOT being attached to ANYTHING being ANY CERTAIN WAY.
 That means being non-attached to any emotions that show up as well.

So many of us beat ourselves up for getting angry, upset, sad, down or simply not at our best… As if the first emotion wasn’t bad enough we punish ourselves for feeling it.

Living in non-attachment we ALLOW the emotion to take place, be witness to it and watch it dissolve. We witness the emotion, not judge it.

Just like NON-JUDGEMENT, living in NON- ATTACHMENT means living with complete freedom and detachment to “WHAT- HAPPENS”

Whatever circumstances arrive, you accept them as if you had chosen them.
 Accepting them does not mean you give up seeking the things you want… it means whatever HAPPENS you accept, while you continue to work toward the things you REALLY WANT with presence and clarity.

When you live in non-attachment, many of those things you THOUGHT you wanted fade away because you realise their insignificance and that only leaves what is really important.

Being attached to ANYTHING being a certain way drains you of power. A Zen Proverb that beautifully sums this up says:

“Consider the trees which allow the birds to perch and fly away without either inviting them to stay or desiring them never to depart. If your heart can be like this, you will be near to the way.”

NON-RESISTANCE
 


Eckhart Tolle says “Nonresistance doesn’t necessarily mean doing nothing. All it means is that any “doing” becomes non-reactive.”

He says “Remember the deep wisdom underlying the practice of Eastern martial arts: Don’t resist the opponent’s force. Yield to overcome.”

Much like non-judgement and non- attachment, living in a state of non-resistance means you do not resist “WHAT HAPPENS”
. You no longer fight “WHAT IS”

Would could be more draining of life energy than fighting WHAT IS? There is nothing.
 It is why “What you RESIST PERSISTS”

Fighting against, creates more energy FOR the thing you are fighting against.
 Letting go, accepting, and importantly STEPPING BACK and being aware of what is actually happening gives you power.

Reacting, not in anger or resistance, but with FOCUS and PRESENCE gives you power to change ANY SITUATION.

When we truly live by these principles OUR LIFE and the world around us instantly becomes clearer, with a greater sense of peace and understanding. Everything becomes lighter and our reactions become clearer.

It affects not only our life and our immediate surroundings but the entire planet, because what could be more powerful than one person, living in a beautiful state… that persons effect on others, and the consequent compound effect those people will have on more people… it is profound.

What a world we can live in if we dedicate our lives in this way.

I pray you all give it a try, in full presence, with pure intentions.

Many blessings.

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Take Chances Every Day (Official Lyric Video) Fearless Soul

Take Chances Every Day Song (Official Lyric Video) Fearless Soul- Watch FREE On Youtube:

Download or Stream “TAKE CHANCES” on iTunes, Spotify, GooglePlay, Apple Music, AmazonMP3, Deezer
Written and Performed by Rachael Schroeder | Music Composed by Patrick Rundblad

LYRICS – Take Chances Every Day Song (Official Lyric Video) Fearless Soul

Lately I’ve been going nowhere
Keep getting in my own way,
nobody but myself to blame
Perfection never is the answer

I’m never gonna make it far,
if fear’s my only Northern star
So I’m trying,
to not be afraid
Yeah, I’m learning
to trust myself anyways

I’ve lost too much time and joy,
that can never be replaced
So I’m choosing
to take chances everyday

Every new day brings opportunity
to be better than I was before
and love myself a little more
Don’t need to have all the answers
to be ready to make a change,
no I don’t want to live this way

So I’m trying
to not be afraid
Yeah, I’m learning
to trust myself anyways

I’ve lost too much time and joy,
that can never be replaced
So I’m choosing
to take chances everyday

There’s no guarantee
I’ll always be happy
​with what happens
but I need to live authentically

There is power in my thoughts,
freedom in my mind
​The chance I take today could change my whole life

So I’m trying to not be afraid
Yeah, I’m learning
to trust myself anyways
I’ve got so much time and joy to give,
and new memories to make
So I’m choosing
to take chances everyday

So I’m trying to not be afraid
I’m learning to trust myself anyways
I’ve got so much time and joy to give,
and new memories to make
So I’m choosing to take chances everyday
I’m choosing to take chances everyday
I’m choosing to take chances everyday

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A Powerful Story About Anger and Letting Go (The Snake and The Saw)

A Powerful Story About Anger and Letting Go (The Snake and The Saw) – Watch On Youtube:

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Transcript – A Powerful Story About Anger and Letting Go (The Snake and The Saw)

I want to share with you a powerful story about a SNAKE and a SAW.

Before you ask what a SNAKE and a SAW has to do with your life… it is about MUCH MORE than a SNAKE and A SAW.

It’s about what happens to us when we REACT IN ANGER… it’s about what happens to us when we HOLD ON TO RESENTMENT and when we DON’T LET GO of negative emotions.

It’s about what CAN happen TO US… when we want negative things to happen to others.

So, the story is this:

One night after closing time a snake found its way inside a home improvement store…

As the snake slithered around… it clipped itself on a hand saw that was lying on the ground. Thinking the saw was a threat… the snake instantly snapped around and bit the saw. Of course this caused much more damage with the snake cutting inside its mouth.

Not understanding what was happening, and thinking the saw was an enemy… the snake wrapped its long body around the saw… attempting to suffocate it…
Of course, the snake didn’t do any damage to the saw… instead ended up being killed by the sharp blade of the saw.

…the snake ended up being killed by its own anger… by its own REACTION to something it thought was out to get it…

There is a powerful message here.
Often we react in anger when we think others have hurt us, or when we assume that others are out to get us…

we react when we don’t need to… we hold on to resentment, and sometimes we hope the other gets hurt… but in doing so, we only end up hurting ourselves.

The negative energy we carry around when we hold on to these resentments and negative feelings only makes US suffer… never the person we might want to suffer.

When we react in anger rather than with compassion, no one wins.

When we snap back… we can’t win.

It is always better to ignore negativity… it’s always better to let go of negative feelings toward others and rather focus on creating the best life we can, for ourselves.

If someone does us wrong, rather than react angrily… maybe we should try to understand where that person is coming from.

Show some compassion…. Maybe they are having a bad day… maybe ALL of their days are bad…

When we look at things from a new perspective it is much easier to MOVE ON… leaving all negative energy behind. HOLDING ON does NOTHING good for our future. WE MUST LET GO.

We must move on before the anger consumes us, and ruins us, like the snake.

Don’t react… instead show compassion.
 Don’t hold on… instead move on.

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What is the ego?

The ego is a self-generated identity consisting of every belief we believe about who and what we are.

This includes our personality, our talents and our likes/dislikes.

The ego is what keeps us locked away in our minds in an endless cycle of chatter, separated from the present moment.

It is the identity created and reinforced by the story we tell ourselves. Our stories are, however, just that. Stories. They do not make up who we are.

While the ego is an aspect of the human condition, it is not the true essence of who we are. When we operate from ego we are generally obsessed with right/wrong, blame/shame and justification.

Learning to identify the traits and behaviours of the ego then working to consciously make a different choice will drastically change your life.

3 Tips On Managing Your Ego To Create A More Peaceful, Loving Life!

1. Stop Taking Things Personally

The ego loves to get offended. It loves to feel wounded and it THRIVES on pain and conflict. When we choose to be offended over things we are actively choosing to allow the ego to take hold of our lives and create pain. In order to disassociate from this decision and make a different choice, we must recognise that love is our natural state. Humans actually want to connect and feel joy, not misery.

If someone does or says something that makes you feel bad, you have two choices. You can engage in conflict, or you can recognise that the trigger within you is an opportunity for your own growth. You can also choose to recognise that anything said from someone else is likely a projection of their own ego.

It makes engaging with it sort of seem silly, doesn’t it? Two egos going to battle like that? Don’t waste your precious energy.

2. Forgive

The ego loves being right. It sustains itself in this way. The problem is it also keeps you from doing what you need to do to move closer to love and truth. The ego is sort of like a weed in this way. It may have pretty flowers for your inner garden, but if left unattended it will choke out all of your other plants and leave you in a big mess.

When you forgive, you allow your heart to open and you separate from the need to be “right” and instead choose love. This is functioning from your true self. Forgive others and forgive yourself too.

3. Let Go And Observe

Let go of trying to be right, trying to win, trying to be seen, trying to be heard. Instead, observe.

The ego wants to prove itself and jump up and down to gain love and validation. Our higher self doesn’t need validation. Our higher self knows that it IS love.

By becoming aware of the ego, and its need to be seen heard and acknowledged, you open up space to be seen and heard without expectation.

By observing without expectation you then see things as they are. You see people as they are rather than through a projected sense of lack because they are not matching up to your ego’s demands.

In this space, there is also an opportunity to sit back and observe as to who or who is not functioning from a place where they can offer themselves up emotionally to GIVE love, acceptance, adoration to you.  These means we let go of controlling people in an attempt to have our needs met. This is freedom.

There is no denying that the ego serves its purpose. But when the ego becomes the dominant process of your mind, you fall out of alignment with your true self.

With practice, you can learn how to manage your ego better and create a life that feels more peaceful, loving and authentic.

What do you do to help manage your ego? Share your thoughts in the comments!

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There is a toxic mindset that exists within the world today, that emotions are a bad thing. That the emotions we experience are something to be pushed aside. Avoiding your emotions is encouraged, often not realizing by avoiding your emotions, you are stacking past hurts on your shoulders, weighing you down everywhere you go until the burden becomes unbearable..

Have you ever heard a statement like this before?

“Why are you so emotional?”

“Emotion has no place in the workplace.”

“You don’t need to be so emotional about it…”

In a world where we constantly feel the need to be more and do more, sometimes we can suppress emotions which we perceive to be negative.

In order to protect ourselves from being judged by others for being a ‘downer’ or ‘negative’, we can push down how we truly feel.

When we fear being criticized or judged for our feelings, we hide them away.

And while it is true that we want to focus on positive emotions in order to create and maintain a beautiful state within ourselves, doing this should not mean suppression or avoidance of other, more difficult emotions.

Emotions are not negative. | Avoiding Your Emotions

They simply are as they are. It is our attachment to or suppression of them that is negative. Emotions, when given space and allowance simply pass through us. Like a deep inhale followed by an exhale, when emotions are given freedom to move, they do not last.

Pain and sadness given space, gives way to relief and gratitude.

To live authentically in a truly beautiful state is to be completely at one with the present moment, and we need to learn to embrace that this will include feeling emotions.

When we avoid emotions they do not disappear. | Avoiding Your Emotions

They simply get locked into our bodies and create negativity and even dis-ease. These locked emotions stay with us until we have the courage to face them.

Sadly for many of us, this takes a lifetime to discover, and for many of us, it is never known at all.

Instead, we carry them around like dead weight, all the while they affect us and cause us pain without us even knowing.

Allowing yourself to feel and express your emotions is a basic human need. To deny your feelings is to deny yourself of life.

You deserve the time and space required for you to process how you feel. Numbing yourself to the way you feel is not serving you.

When you choose to consciously feel your emotions, you deepen the connection you have with yourself. You also deepen your connection to the present moment, because you are no longer moving away from it in order to be comfortable.

So starting today, make a pact with yourself to never deny yourself of fully feeling your emotions. I promise you, it will change your life.

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Pain in life is guaranteed. Suffering on the other hand is optional.

When we experience pain – we feel wronged, hard done by – cheated. And so to ensure it doesn’t happen again, we create a story about the pain.. What happened to us, and how it affected our lives..

When we carry these stories around with us we hold onto anger, fear and blame. They become like painful heavy bricks that weigh down our hearts and stop us from growing.

We convince ourselves that if we were to let go of our story, we would be vulnerable to the pain happening again. So we clench tightly, convinced of their necessity.

But this is a mistake..

In order to heal from our pain, we must learn to forgive.

Only then can we be free.

9 Powerful Quotes On Forgiveness To Help You Release The Pain Of The Past

1. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Martin Luther King Jr.

Holding onto anger, resentment, blame and hatred over what happened does not serve you.. Love instead.

Love yourself enough to let it go.

2. The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. Mahatma Gandhi

You are strong enough to do this. You deserve more, than to live your life in the continued suffering of past hurts.

3. True forgiveness is when you can say, “Thank you for that experience.” Oprah Winfrey | Quotes on Forgiveness

The lessons you learnt through this pain are INVALUABLE. No one will ever take them from you. Speak silently into the heart of the person who hurt you.

Thank them and let them go.

4. Resentment is like drinking poison and hoping it will kill your enemies. Nelson Mandela

You will not be able to flourish if you continue to be validated for your pain.

The resentment you feel is only hurting you, no one else.

5. To be wronged is nothing unless you continue to remember it. Confucius | Quotes on Forgiveness

You and you alone have the power to release the bind.

Stop playing the story of the past. Write a new one.

A beautiful story.

6. Blame keeps wounds open. Only forgiveness heals. Thomas S. Manson

Close the wounds, let them heal.

Take care of yourself and rest, then find your courage.

7. The practice of forgiveness is our most important contribution to the healing of the world. Marianne Williamson

When you forgive, you not only change your own life.

You raise the collective consciousness higher into love.

8. To err is human; to forgive, divine. Alexander Pope | Quotes on Forgiveness

Humans make mistakes. Have you not made errors in your time here? Forgive yourself too.

9. When you forgive, you in no way change the past—but you sure do change the future. Bernard Meltzer

To forgive is to take a step towards joy, love and a life that truly reflects the beauty you have within you.

Don’t waste another moment of joy being in anger.

Forgiveness is not easy, especially when the pain is deep. But when you find the courage to heal yourself in this way, you begin a whole new life. And the best part is, it only takes a moment.

How about you try it, right now?

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Emotional resilience is the measure of how we respond to and deal with things that happen to us in our day to day life. It’s our capacity to cope with challenges and hurdles that present themselves on this wonderful journey.

For example, a similar situation can occur at the same time to two sperate people, but ultimately it is their resilience that will dictate how they respond to it.

When faced with a tragedy or a challenge in your life, how do you handle it?

Do you get emotional, blame others, or even yourself? Or are you slightly more measured in your responses, and look at things pragmatically?

Put simply, emotionally resilient people are able to handle life’s challenges better.

The great part about coming to understand this is learning that you can grow your personal resilience muscles.

Yep, with time, patience and practice, you can actually build your emotional resilience and gain control over your responses to life’s challenges. But how?

4 Simple Steps That Will Help You To Build Emotional Resilience

1. Practice acceptance | Emotional Resilience

We fall into trouble when we try to control and affect the things in life that are not able to be controlled.

Instead of trying to control, we need to practice learning to accept certain things as part of life.

Understanding this and using self-awareness to identify what can and cannot be directly affected by you will greatly help you in measuring how to respond to a situation when it arises.

2. Predict change | Emotional Resilience

Not only do we need to learn to accept certain things are out of our control, but we also need to learn to anticipate change as a part of life.

Nothing in life is constant. We are constantly growing, changing, evolving and so is the world around us.

Just as nature has seasons, so do we. Learn to flow with life not against it. This will build up emotional resilience in you to be used when truly necessary.

3. Have hope | Emotional Resilience

Optimism is key to building your emotional resilience.

If we have a negative outlook on life, and kind of feel like it’s all for nothing then we probably aren’t going to have much positivity to hold onto when something goes differently to the way we want.

On the contrary, if we have an optimistic outlook we are more likely to accept challenges with “a grain of salt” and trust that life is always working in our favour.

4. Forgive yourself | Emotional Resilience

It’s not always easy to respond “well” when faced with difficulty in life. But in the end, if you are making efforts towards becoming more self-aware. Learning to grow and expanding your consciousness, you are doing GREAT.

Forgive yourself for any times you may not been as resilient as you would have liked, and remember – You are evolving. The more we learn from mistakes the stronger we become going forward.

Emotional resilience is a strength that will help you in many ways. Even if you haven’t got it right now, trust in your ability to improve as time goes on.

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We live in a society heavily obsessed with success, achievement and outcomes.

We learn from an early age the difference between winners and losers, and we are taught all manner of ways to avoid being the latter.

It is so deeply ingrained in us to “fight for survival.”

We adopt this mentality and before we know it we are operating mostly unconsciously from a place of fear, lack and even panic.

We spend most of our time in the sympathetic nervous system – the nervous system that prepares the body for intense physical activity and is often referred to as the fight-or-flight response.

From this space, we lose touch with the gentleness of life.

When we begin to explore our spiritual nature, we gain access to tools and practices like prayer, meditation, mindfulness and even yoga and tai chi.

By incorporating these practices in our day to day life, we may find it easier to relax and begin to trust the flow of life.

As we expand our presence through these practices, we can experience moments of clarity, deep love and even synchronicity. All of which provide a definable experience and connection to our faith.

But what about those of us who have never experienced this kind of faith?

What if you have never meditated in your life?

If the whole concept of “letting go” and “trusting the process” sounds terrifying and unachievable for you, never fear.  There a few simple ways you can learn to stop “fighting” with your life and learn to trust the process of life.

Learning To Trust In A World That Teaches You To Constantly Fight For Survival

In the end, fighting with life is really just resistance to what is. When we do this, we take ourselves out of the present moment.

So actually, learning to stop fighting is actually just learning to accept what is.

1. Deep breaths | Learning To Trust

It sounds simple because it is! Deep breaths activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which relaxes the body and slows high energy functions. Start with simply sending your breath deep into your belly and holding for four seconds then releasing.

2. Focus on the positive | Learning To Trust

Be grateful for what you have. If you woke up today with air in your lungs, a roof over your head and access to clean water you are richer than 75% of the world. If you have money in the bank and change in your pocket, you are among the top 8% of the worlds wealthy. Remind yourself of this EVERY SINGLE DAY.

3. Give yourself time | Learning To Trust

You are not going to learn how to be present overnight. Presence is a practice. You need to retrain your body and mind to feel safe in accessing stillness and growing its place in your life.

Learning to let go is not an easy task when we have been taught to constantly fight to survive. It takes practice and commitment but the outcomes make it 100% worth the effort.

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