Suffering is a natural alarm, warning us that we’re attaching to a thought; when we don’t listen, we come to accept the suffering as an inevitable part of life. It’s not. (Location 176)
A Few Basic Principles
The only time we suffer is when we believe a thought that argues with what is. When the mind is perfectly clear, what is is what we want. (Location 493)
The Work reveals that what you think shouldn’t have happened should have happened. It should have happened because it did happen, and no thinking in the world can change it. This doesn’t mean that you condone it or approve of it. It just means that you can see things without resistance and without the confusion of your inner struggle. (Location 508)
To think that I know what’s best for anyone else is to be out of my business. Even in the name of love, it is pure arrogance, and the result is tension, anxiety, and fear. Do I know what’s right for me? That is my only business. Let me work with that before I try to solve your problems for you. (Location 524)
A thought is harmless unless we believe it. It is not our thoughts but the attachment to our thoughts that causes suffering. Attaching to a thought means believing that it’s true, without inquiring. A belief is a thought that we’ve been attaching to, often for years. (Location 533)
No one has ever been able to control his or her thinking, although people may tell the story of how they have. I don’t let go of my thoughts; I meet them with understanding. Then they let go of me. (Location 540)
The Great Undoing
When you do The Work, you see who you are by seeing who you think other people are. Eventually you come to see that everything outside you is a reflection of your own thinking. You are the storyteller, the projector of all stories, and the world is the projected image of your thoughts. (Location 622)
When you realize that every stressful moment you experience is a gift that points you to your own freedom, life becomes very kind. (Location 636)
Inquiry: The Four Questions and the Turnarounds Is it true? (Yes or no. If no, move to question 3.) Can you absolutely know that it’s true? (Yes or no.) How do you react, what happens, when you believe that thought? Who or what would you be without the thought? (Location 716)
Our parents, our children, our spouses, and our friends will continue to press every button we have, until we realize what it is that we don’t want to know about ourselves yet. They will point us to our freedom every time. (Location 952)