Quotes about Personal growth

Rainer Maria Rilke said, "I live my life in widening rings." It may well be useful to note the expanding of the circles in which we live, but it is also important not to lose the sensation of cycles, which may be painful to anyone living in a culture dedicated to the extending line. Maybe in life we never really develop, but only expand the rotations that give us our firm identity. Maybe we should expect always to get into familiar trouble and to repeat both the glorious and the defeating themes that are embedded in our soul.

The growth of a man can be imagined as a power that gradually expands downward: the voice expands downward into the open vowels that carry emotion, and into the rough consonants that are like gates holding that water; the hurt feelings expand downward into compassion; the intelligence expands with awe into the great arguments or antinomies men have debated for centuries; and the mood-man expands downward into those vast rooms of melancholy under the earth, where we are more alive the older we get, more in tune with the earth and the great roots.

Who you are is this "motion of seeing" that is looking through your eyes right now. When you stop at and as this "motion of aliveness" - by consciously refocusing your attention to this seer; by coming to being deeply at rest at and as this one that is the "you" that you can never get away from; by no longer furthering out from this "you" and into the attempt to try and be something that is notyou; you are immediately freed from who you think you are in every given moment of this realization.

True happiness is completely causeless; it is not reliant on a thing; it is its own reward, its own pleasure. It is immutable and immovable even as it is constantly changing and forever increasing in its movement into its own manifestation.

Your true home is in being deeply at rest at and as the heart of existence itself, the "you" that you truly are and have always been.  The heart is totally free of everything even as it contains everything, sustains everything and is flowing through everything - without any paradox or contradiction to any of it.

As you learn to leave alone the activity of unconsciously trying to be the mindbody that you think that you are - the mindbody that this "you" is currently flowing through - and you learn to move as this one that you truly are - this "you" of you; the very heart of existence - steadily, consciously and momentarily, the continuity of the ever deepening of this innermost as it keeps on entering its manifestation, through this mindbody that you find yourself flowing through, allows you to simply bubble in the sheer joy, pleasure, peace, delightfulness and stillness that this "you" of you is.

There are so many distractions today it is much easier to sleep; to hit the snooze button in our lives and simply roll over with the best of intentions to get started tomorrow.

Yet with the challenges of today's world, this behavior could be called emotional and spiritual truancy. It is characterized by "the evasion of one's own growth, the setting of low levels of aspiration, the fear of doing what one is capable of doing, voluntary self-crippling, pseudo-stupidity and mock humility." No matter how sophisticated or ingenious the avoidance, it is still a cheap adaptation to the implorings of personal evolution. It is clinging to the trivial, to cultivate our own little gardens. *

* - From Greg Levoy "Callings" excerpted from: http://www.ticl.org/

"Self-Observation is itself the Beginning of Transformation"

When you grow and rise above the masses, you will always become a target. Just as the flower grows above the grass, it becomes a target for the nourishment of the rays of sunshine, it also becomes a target to be cut down.

It was a celebate villager who wrote, "We know not where we are. Besides, we are all sound asleep nearly half our time. Yet we esteem ourselves wise, and have established order on the surface." Such a surface makes possible human combinations and moments of tender regard. It is a mad thing, to be alive. Villages exist to moderate this madness--to hide it from our children, to bottle it for private use, to smooth its imperatives into habits, to protect us from the darkness without and the darkness within.

Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them.

Success means having the courage, the determination, and the will to become the person you believe you were meant to be.

"All things change when we do"

"Arise, transcend thyself. Thou art man and the whole nature of man is to become more than himself"
sriaurobindosociety.org.in

I am Willing

I am willing to change what doesn't work for me in my life.
I am willing to listen with an open heart, without judging.
I am willing to plant seeds that take a long time, if ever, to grow.
I am willing to feel and let go.
I am willing to make mistakes and learn from them.
I am willing to live in the present.
I am willing to forgive and forget in my heart.
I am willing to love as much as my endless spirit will allow.
I am willing to be seen in all my radiance.
I am willing to be fearless.

I am willing to be powerful.
I am willing to be peaceful.
I am willing to stand tall. and walk gracefully.
I am willing to sing with my stunning, full voice.
I am willing to allow. I am willing to let go.
I am willing to change.
I am willing to see and be seen.
I am willing to hear and be heard.
I am willing to feel and be felt.
I am willing to heal and be healed.
I am willing to love and be loved.

I am willing to change what doesn't work for me in my life.
I am willing to listen with an open heart, without judging.
I am willing to plant seeds that take a long time, if ever, to grow.
I am willing to feel and let go.
I am willing to make mistakes and learn from them.
I am willing to live in the present.
I am willing to forgive and forget in my heart.
I am willing to love as much as my endless spirit will allow.
I am willing to be seen in all my radiance.
I am willing to allow. I am willing to let go..
I am willing to be fully human.

".....before we can change the world we need to change our minds."

During our journey there were two occasions that we celebrated by honoring someone's talent.  Everyone is recognized by a special party, but it has nothing to do with age or birthdate - it is in recognition of uniqueness and contribution to life.  They believe that the purpose for the passage of time is to allow a person to become better, wiser, to express more and more of one's beingness.  So if you are a better person this year than last, and only you know that for certain, then you call for a party.  When you say you are ready, everyone honors that.