Canadian author Quotes

“Most people's lives are run by desire and fear. Desire is the need to add something to yourself in order to be yourself more fully. All fear is the fear of losing something and thereby becoming diminished and being less. These two movements obscure the fact that Being cannot be given or taken away. Being in its fullness is already within you, Now.”

“In you, as in each human being, there is a dimension of consciousness far deeper than thought. It is the very essence of who you are. We may call it presence, awareness, the unconditioned consciousness.”

“The whole world accepts that being stressed is the normal way to live.”

“When you completely accept this moment, when you no longer argue with what is, the compulsion to think lessens and is replaced by an alert stillness. You are fully conscious, yet the mind is not labeling this moment in any way... It is a shift from identification with form --the thought or the emotion-- to being and recognizing yourself as that which has no form -- spacious awareness.”

“Why does the mind habitually deny or resist the Now? Because it cannot function and remain in control without time, which is past and future, so it perceives the timeless Now as threatening. Time and mind are in fact inseparable.”

“Instead of 'watching the thinker,' you can also create a gap in the mind stream simply by directing the focus of your attention into the Now. Just become intensely conscious of the present moment. This is a deeply satisfying thing to do. In this way, you draw consciousness away from mind activity and create a gap of no-mind in which you are highly alert and aware but not thinking. This is the essence of meditation.”

“Humans are potentially capable of living in a state of consciousness compared to which normal wakefulness is like sleeping or dreaming.”

“Now is all you ever have. There never is anything else. So, you might as well make the now your friend. Otherwise, you are out of alignment with life itself.”

“Not to be able to stop thinking is an affliction, but we don't realise this because almost everybody is suffering from it.”

“Don't wait to be successful at some future point, have a successful relationship with the present moment and be fully present in whatever you are doing. That is success.”

“Use whatever challenge comes into your life as a kind of fuel for the flame of consciousness. That is done through surrender to what is. Some people may need more of that than others. If you choose presence in your daily life you may not need the drastic challenges.”

“The more you live in the present moment, the more the fear of death disappears.”

“Stress means there is something wrong, and you are not aligned with life.”

“Quality requires your Presence.”

“Doing is never enough if you neglect Being.”

“The light is too painful for someone who wants to remain in darkness.”

“The present moment is all you ever have.”

“Sometimes people need to experience great loss to really be driven deeper.”

“Loss is very painful, because any kind of loss leaves a hole in the fabric of one's existence.”

“All you need to know and observe in yourself is this: Whenever you feel superior or inferior to anyone, that's the ego in you.”

“When you surrender to what is and so become fully present, the past ceases to have any power. You do not need it anymore. Presence is the key. Now is the key.”

“The future is only a thought form. Work with the present moment. Be with what is.”

“If peace is really what you want, then you will choose peace.”

“Even within the seemingly most unacceptable and painful situation is concealed a deeper good, and within every disaster is contained the seed of grace.”

“Sometimes letting things go is an act of far greater power than defending or hanging on.”