Canadian author Quotes

“A genuine relationship is one that is not dominated by the ego with its image-making and self-seeking. In a genuine relationship, there is an outward flow of open, alert attention toward the other person in which there is no wanting whatsoever.”

“You can not have an argument with a fully conscious person.”

“Thinking is a wonderful tool if it's applied. Thinking, however, can not become the master. Thinking is a very bad master. If you're dominated by thinking then your life becomes very restricted.”

“When you are present, you can allow the mind to be as it is without getting entangled in it.”

“By watching the mechanics of the mind, you step out of its resistance patterns, and you can then allow the present moment to be.”

“I usually congratulate people when they tell me, "I don't know who I am anymore".”

“Choice implies consciousness - a high degree of consciousness. Without it, you have no choice. Choice begins the moment you disidentify from the mind and its conditioned patterns, the moment you become present....Nobody chooses dysfunction, conflict, pain. Nobody chooses insanity. They happen because there is not enough presence in you to dissolve the past, not enough light to dispel the darkness. You are not fully here. You have not quite woken up yet. In the meantime, the conditioned mind is running your life.”

“Whenever there is negativity in you, if you can be aware in that moment that there is something in you that takes pleasure in it or believes it has a useful purpose, you are becoming aware of the ego directly. The moment this happens your identity has shifted from ego to awareness. This means the ego is shrinking and awareness is growing.”

“When you live as a friend of the now, many changes come into your life.”

“I've always enjoyed being in the background, sitting in a cafe, watching people. But now, when I sit in a cafe, sometimes people watch me. It's a challenge. But it's usually people who want to say 'your book transformed my life', or something... so then I'm joyful. One moment before, I didn't want them to recognise me, but when they do, I'm glad.”

“Give up defining yourself - to yourself or to others. You won't die. You will come to life.”

“Awareness takes over from thinking. Instead of being in charge of your life, thinking becomes the servant of awareness.”

“True listening is another way of bringing stillness into the relationship. When you truly listen to someone, the dimension of stillness arises and becomes an essential part of the relationship. But true listening is a rare skill. Usually, the greater part of a person's attention is taken up by their thinking. At best, they may be evaluating your words or preparing the next thing to say. Or they may not be listening at all, lost in their own thoughts.”

“Whatever is arising in this moment, whatever condition, is part of the isness of life and therefore accepting it fully makes you an expression of the enormous power of life itself-true intelligence, which only comes when you stop obstructing the power of the present moment.”

“Life wants to support you. But first you need to be open to life.”

“Guilt, regret, resentment, sadness & all forms of nonforgiveness are caused by too much past & not enough presence.”

“The more shared past there is in a relationship, the more present you need to be.”

“Attention is the vital thing and there is no tension in attention. It just happens to be a similar word. It's not concentration or straining. Attention has the openness of a young child not yet dominated by the conceptual mind.”

“Transformational entertainment is a story that both entertains and uplifts you, not simply because you are inspired, but because it reveals the mechanics that allow people to have more effective, loving lives, lives of more connection, community, and communion.”

“Identification with your mind creates an opaque screen of concepts, labels, images, words, judgments, and definitions that blocks all true relationship.”

“If you are not taking responsibility for your state of consciousness, you are not taking responsibility for life.”

“Acceptance of what is immediately frees you from mind identification and thus reconnects you with Being. Resistance is the mind.”

“So give up waiting as a state of mind. When you catch yourself slipping into waiting . . . snap out of it. Come into the present moment. Just be, and enjoy being. If you are present, there is never any need for you to wait for anything. So next time somebody says, “Sorry to have kept you waiting,” you can reply, “That's all right, I wasn't waiting. I was just standing”

“Where ever you are, be there totally.”

“I'm grateful for always this moment, the now, no matter what form it takes.”