objectionable, depending on the reactions of those who view it. But another's take on what I do doesn't alter my intent, which is the true content of my behavior. Since all minds are connected, the deeper effect of my actions is in what I think. That is why there are no private thoughts or completely hidden motives. I can't expect to be a person who consistently makes life easier on my loved ones if I don't stay aware of my thoughts.
16
We can accept one another and enjoy life, or judge one another and be unhappy.
Self-preoccupation is an unhappy state of mind, yet it offers several temporary pleasures, and these must be honestly looked at. For example, revenge can seem deeply satisfying for a while and acts of ill will can make us feel more confident. But there is another set of pleasures that comes from empathy, tolerance, and trusting other people's processes, which never leads to misery. If there is indeed a greater Guidance, who am I to know what anyone else should be doing? This is what is meant by trusting others.
17
Closeness to God is first experienced as closeness to others.
There are personality types that are universally disliked. There are also individuals who are destructive, even murderous. Yet personality is not all there is to anyone. The experience of connection isn't dependent on how others talk to me or behave. Nor is it a matter of making someone like me. If we can feel close to individuals who are miles away or even to people after they die, surely the potential exists to be at peace with those who are physically present.
18
A gentle and accepting mind always feels close to God.
I alone block my perception of Oneness by thinking defensively. It may be rational to fear someone physically, but not spiritually. God does not hold me back from feeling close to anyone—telemarketer, teenager, politician, postal worker, cable company executive, spouse, or self-help author. When I relax my mind, my vision can now move past the sur face of things, and there, awaiting me, is a great Splendor.
19
Make your state of mind more important than what you are doing.
Only the mind can be controlled. Health, income, relationships, longevity, reputation, and the like, can't be controlled. Personal destiny is merely the story told by my body. Even the tiniest event can't be controlled, and the attempt to do so always splits the mind. In trying to control what I believe to be outside my mind, I discount the power of my thoughts and fail to take responsibility for them.
20
Inner peace is letting go of being right.
Obviously, I can't make myself right without making someone else wrong. Forgiveness is a choice. If I want to change my mind from an environment that tortures me to an environment that comforts me, I must make forgiving as routine as breathing. Forgiveness isn't something nice I do for another person; it's something nice I do for my mental health.
21
Acceptance is the way I bless myself.
My disdain, dismissal, hatred, or dislike of another does not punish that individual. It punishes me. I am the one with the bitter mind. I can' t pass on that little piece of hell to another. Hatred destroys all awareness of light within me, but unless I go out of my way to make others aware of it, they don't even know I judge them.
22
Our core is already positive. Choice is made possible by seeing how we routinely betray our core.
If I look at a shadow closely enough, I see that it's merely a shadow. I release my negative impulses and thoughts by giving them more attention, not less. No one acts out a judgment of which they are acutely aware. No one makes a conscious decision to act insanely against their own interests.
23
If we are each in God's hands, judging another is an act of arrogance.
I merely delude myself if I think it is possible to judge. How could I know a faster or better way to transform another person's heart than the way God has already chosen? Judging is a not so subtle way of procrastinating, of putting off something I need to take responsibility for this instant. What am I avoiding that I am taking time to judge?
24
How could one person's way possibly be superior to another person's way if God is leading us all?
If I believe that my spiritual path is superior, my path is not spiritual. Spirit is One. The divine doesn't contain degrees of correctness. Either we all share the same Truth and ultimate destiny, or there is no truth and we are lost in a reality of private perception and momentary interpretation. The way out of chaos is to stop analyzing and start experiencing, to stop looking for better ways to say it and start practicing more peaceful and inclusive ways of doing it.
25
All thoughts are equally a part of the mind.
Notice how difficult it is merely to think in peace about any individual who comes to mind. Still, that must be my aim if I am ever to experience consistent mental wholeness. My tendency is to disown the negative parts of my mind because it's uncomfortable to admit what they say about me. Yet I think what I think by choice. All of it is my mind. My motivation to learn how to react peacefully to those who people my thoughts should be enormous—once I consider the effects my attitudes have on me.
26
I release you from your past, that I may see you as God sees you.
In conversations, those who are not present are often described in terms of their mistakes. Even individuals before us now are seen as stories and not as they are this instant. In faithlessness we think, “You are created in the image and likeness of your past.” Yet it's not mentally dishonest to focus instead on what is fresh, different, and unexpected. The encounter I am having now has never occur red before. Except on a spiritual level, no one is ever the same, and their progress will not be evident if I only stare at the decisions I have already made about them.
27
We each journey on a path of mistakes.
When I look back, I don't have a consistent interpretation of which acts were victories or defeats. And I have seen the same childhood circumstances as both damaging and beneficial. This much is clear: Many important gains have come on the heels of my greatest mistakes. Progress is the process of correcting mistakes, not of being perfect. Today I will make starting over more important than looking back. Those who make no mistakes have already arrived. I simply don't know what mistakes anyone needs to make. Therefore, I am in no position to be “helpful.”
28
True helpfulness comes from connection, not from words.
Words alone don't help. It is
