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Browse published articles attributed to Guy Finley, with full-archive search.
Barring those moments when we find ourselves in real physical danger, conditions of themselves have absolutely no authority over us. It's true. No event or circumstance has any power to make us feel one way or another. The only command any condition may have over us is that which we ...
Our lives are meant to be bright, noble, and ever ascending. This promise of our True Potential is made good in us by the fulfillment of our possibilities, and not through the interminable struggle of trying to do what is impossible. Most of our sorrows are the offspring of trying to be ...
Somewhere in a remote region of the Southweste United States, a park ranger was seated in his high tower. It overlooked the deep canyons and ravines that ran through the national park where he'd worked for the past twenty years. Looking out over the terrain through his binoculars, he could see a thunderstorm gathering in the west and knew it was only a matter of minutes until a flash flood would come crashing through the canyons below.
We tell ourselves that we want a new life; in our minds we see ourselves reclaiming our right to live without limitations. We see ourselves walking away from destructive relationships and letting go of negative thoughts and feelings. And this is the very problem. We talk to ourselves about a fresh start and even plan the path we will take when things get right . . . but that’s it. We think, but rarely act. We dream, but won’t awaken to the one fact we must face if we would make a fresh start: The new beginning we long for is now or never.
There is no moment in which everything around us isn't beginning. In fact, if the various cosmos – from the greatest to the least – had a slogan it would be this: “In with the new, out with the old.” This celestial principle of regeneration is not only ceaseless in the world around us; it is always at work within us, as well. We are renewed every moment, from the inside out. Now let’s see how this one truth can empower us to let go of any lingering pain of the past, whether from three seconds or thirty years ago.
A middle-aged man had recently moved into a new city and, soon after, decided that he wanted to explore his immediate area, maybe meet some of his neighbors, as well as visit some of the interesting shops that lined the streets all around his apartment.
The greatest, most abundant resource on planet Earth is also its least understood and utilized. Its unlimited supply is found virtually everywhere, anytime, and under all circumstances, even though few recognize its real value. What is this most precious collective resource? It is our relationships. nnConsider these truths: It is within relationships that we grow as individuals in everything valuable; because it is through them that we become stronger and wiser, allowing us t
Often when someone feels wronged by their partner they demand “payment” for the pain they feel unjustly inflicted upon them. History proves they will argue until this well-established pattern completes itself, one way or another. At some point, unable to resolve who’s to blame for the pain, one or the other will either storm off to brood over the mistreatment, or decide that “retreat” is the better part of valor and make some kind of peace offering, perhaps an apology. Sad, but true to say, in the long run, neither of these “solutions” makes any real difference.
An angel has two wings. On each of these wings is written one of these two words: YES and NO. As we are about to learn, these two simple words represent special principles that are the wings of spiritual freedom. For instance, we must learn to say YES to self-study, prayer, meditation and ...
Key Lesson: Part I: It seldom occurs to us that whatever we persist with in our lives works to perfect the same, so that by allowing persistent negative thoughts and feelings to have their way with us, we unknowingly perfect self-punishment! Part II: As surely as raindrops have the power to ...
No animal hides in shame for being itself. No tree bends to the opinion of others. No wind avoids the granite face before it. Only human beings cultivate ways in which to fawn or cower before one another, and all for the sake of winning nothing but a fleeting feeling that for their cunning they ...
Unlike the untold billions of other life forms teeming on the Earth -- whose nature is an open and shut case -- human nature is not fixed. What does this mean to you? Only everything! The tiger, the horse, and the bird, must express their nature. They have no real choice. And even though they ...
Any weakness we may harbor in our present character persists only because we have yet to see how its presence compromises our happiness, but a growing awareness of this interior shakiness changes everything. Our awakening stirs within us a Celestial Character created for the purpose of ...
Since what others may do to us is not in our power to change, we need only conce ourselves with what we do to ourselves . . . for this is in our power. There is always a moment before a problem starts with another human being where we realize that what we want is not going to happen. ...
Long before it’s possible for us to be spiritually reborn, we must first awaken to ourselves. Awakening is the sudden realization that somehow or other what I took to be the only world isn’t the only world..
Three New Choices That Dismiss Dark Conditions One reason we must learn to say "Yes" to life -- regardless of how much we may not want what it brings -- is that whenever we embrace a fearful or negative view of some unwanted situation, not only must we still find our way through the twists and ...
Key Lesso Part I: Life itself has never weighed-in so heavily upon us as to hurt us; rather it is we who - - in ignorance of reality - - carelessly attribute weight to events that are essentially without substance, causing ourselves to suffer nothing less than the fervent magnitude of our own ...
Flow With The Present Moment Into The Fullness Of The Free Mind Here's an inner life exercise of immeasurable value. Think of these new instructions as a kind of special cleansing agent, but not as a way to improve yourself. Let me explain. When we wash a window, to clean away its ...
An essential spiritual force is missing from our lives. We are about to gather ample evidence of this fact, and learn ways to recover this crucial force that we unknowingly give away. The power we're missing is patience. Real patience is not about waiting for one's expectations to be fulfilled. ...
Question: Why do I continue to get angry, and why do I always feel so justified in my anger even though it always makes me feel terrible at a later time?
Those with whom we assemble, we soon resemble! This simple old saying hides a deep Truth that can enlighten and empower every aspect of our lives: Who we are — our very essence — is continually being transformed by the company we keep. Stated differently, when we keep the company of what is light and bright, our lives get lighter and brighter. And when we keep the company of what is dark and discouraging, our lives can’t help but be dragged downward.
It's a little known - yet much denied fact - that people treat you the way you secretly ask to be treated. Your unspoken request that determines how others behave toward you is extended to -and received by - everyone you meet. What is your invisible inner life? It's the way you actually feel - as opposed to the way you're trying to appear - when meeting any person or event.
By Guy Finley It is impossible to change the relationship we have with the world around us without changing the relationship we have within ourselves. This is the secret teaching of the ages.
Over the many years now of living on a small mountaintop in southern Oregon, I have learned many invaluable spiritual lessons by observing the wildlife that shares the forest in which my small house sits sequestered. In truth, nature and her creatures are always exhibiting some of the most profound principles one can hope to learn. The celestial hides itself in the common; this realization – of its tireless wisdom and grace – never fails to reveal itself to those who learn to watch its goodness on display. A short personal story tells the tale of one such revelation.
A family went to its favorite park for a Saturday picnic lunch. While the three boys, William, Paul, and Michael, played together, running up and down the green rolling hills as fast as they could, Dad put the finishing touches on the meal while Mom put out the paper plates on a checkered picnic tablecloth.
If one day you bang your elbow and seven years later the same spot still aches, and now radiating pains are appearing in your fingers and shoulder, you would start to suspect that something in your body's system was amiss! You would conclude, virtually beyond any doubt, that your original injury never healed properly.
excerpted from Guy Finley's newest book "Let Go and Live in the Now." Red Wheel/Weiser, 2004. I can think of no greater encouragement than the self-evident Truth that there dwells in each of us the opportunity to explore and know the Extraordinary Life. The meaning of Extraordinary I wish to ...
When a person wants to reach the next level in their life, when they want to understand the truths -- the principles that actually produce in them a new kind of freedom -- they have to know where to look for it. From micro to macro, you can discover that the whole universe is based on cycles and that these cycles run through our lives, determining our relationships with each other. And yet, there is something -- which we will call Love -- that contains these cycles… and it is right inside of us.
Truthful principles can only act as agents of change for us when we choose to enact them. Their capacity to restore self-command, grant us a mind at peace, or deliver us from fearful dark states is only as great as our willingness to call upon their powers. That’s why we must do the personal work it takes to put higher principles into practice. Napoleon Hill, one of the early great pioneers of personal development, asserts: “We can become complete masters of ourselves, if we so desire.
By the fact that everything about her existence is perfectly ordered, Mother Nature is “choice-less.” What does being “without choice” mean in this context? All creatures – from the smallest to the largest – from gnat, to gorilla, all the way to the humpback whale, must serve nature as she demands. Their individual lives exist to serve and to sustain a living planetary matrix greater than themselves.
It's a familiar analogy, but quite accurate, to talk about our relationship with the sacred in the same way we describe a beautiful gemstone. There are many facets to a gem, and depending upon the angle from which we view it, we see light reflected and refracted differently. Several people looking from different angles may report seeing something different, and yet they are all describing the same gem. In the same way, there are many facets to the sacred, and we all see it differently depending upon the “angle” of our culture and experience. And yet there is but one sacred.
There is nothing wrong with being a successful human being. In fact, the purpose of your life is to win. But what if, in your quest for this victory, you were accidentally drawn into a compelling game in which, unknown to you, it was impossible to win no matter how well you performed or religiously followed the “rules?” Where, instead of finding the freedom to run as you wish, you found yourself moving more and more mechanically through your days? And, to make matters worse, each passing day leaves you feeling more frustrated than fulfilled because of an ever-increasing pressure to win!
(Excerpted from "Let Go and Live in the Now" -- Red Wheel/Weiser, 2004: 1,150 words) I can think of no greater encouragement than the self-evident Truth that there dwells in each of us the opportunity to explore and know the Extraordinary Life. The meaning of Extraordinary I wish to convey ...
(An Excerpt from "Apprentice of the Heart") Seated in the center of the heart, as surely as the essence of a tiny seed holds the promise of a towering tree, lives within us the Presence of a Power that can dispel any gathering darkness and change what is unkind into conscious compassion. What ...
Six Ways to Know a False Inner Guide From the True One From The Secret of Your Immortal Self By Guy Finley The journey to the divinity within has its dangers. About this we are clear: the inner path is lined with many trials and pitfalls. But there is nothing to be feared in this knowledge; in truth, these encounters are actually stages of initiation; they are necessary points along the upper path where the aspirant reaches – again and again – the proverbial "fork in the road."
So many people today are bitter, broken-hearted, or just plain angry because of what happened to them while growing up.
Have you ever been so upset, so disturbed by someone, that if you didn’t lash out at them, you were sure the whole world would come crashing down on you? When you and I get upset with someone, our attention is instantly glued onto the source of our irritation. All we do is think about the irritation we have and how it’s connected to what someone else has done.
Have you ever noticed that whenever a secret is circulating among your close friends you will do almost anything to learn its undisclosed nature? Or, if you think someone knows something that you don’t, you won’t rest until you too are "in the know"? All of this is to say we seem to love secrets!
True spiritual “power” isn’t the ability to imagine and implement an endless series of new solutions to old problems. Rather, it is a radical new and higher form of self-understanding, one that illuminates and transcends our unconscious need to have any painful problems at all. Which would you rather have: a personal fire truck and a fire to put out every day, or a life free of painful fires?
If there could be only one idea—a lamp whose light could show the aspirant of real life the way out of the prison of dark thoughts and punishing feelings—it would surely be this: Your true Self doesn’t win in life by overpowering problems, but by revealing they never really existed as you once believed they did.
Have you ever noticed how the more negative you get, the more difficult everything about your life becomes, including being able to do the simplest things? It’s like suddenly sinking into dark molasses, where not only can’t you move, but everything you don’t want seems stuck to you!
Near the end of a busy afte oon, a senior caddie at an exclusive golf club is making his appointed rounds—double-checking that everything is in its proper place—when he wanders into the clubhouse locker room. Much to his shock he sees an obviously completely exhausted man spread-eagle on the floor! A moment later, he recognizes the man as a fairly new member of the club. At first he fears the man may have fallen and hit his head, but after touching him gently, the man leaps to his feet...a terrified look in his eye.
A man once awakened to find himself riding through what appeared to be a haunted house. He didn't know exactly where he was. All he did know was that it was very dark and that he was moving along with no choice as to the direction. And if that wasn't bad enough, around almost every twisting ...
When you want to enjoy the sunshine directly, you must go outdoors. You understand you have to take yourself physically to a place where the warming rays of the sun can fall upon you without interference. Likewise, when you want to know the powers that circulate through a quiet mind, you must take yourself to that place where this Silent Strength can make itself known to you. To go quiet, you must go within.
Regardless of our certainty as to whether we or our partner starts or rekindles a quarrel, the real cause of the continuing conflict between us lies elsewhere. Which is why, as strange as the following insight may seem at first, the importance of working to see the truth of it simply can’t be overstated: Despite any appearance to the contrary, it’s not our partner, nor is it we who strikes the first blow in any dispute: it’s pain that picks the fight.
Our relationships with one another are often a source of distress. In general, the principal form of conflict we experience with others has to do with some form of consideration that we feel they are not giving to us. We often suffer from thoughts like these: "She is not being respectful enough." "He is not as kind as I want him to be." "They just don't care as deeply as I do."
When a person wants to reach the next level in their life, when they want to understand the truths -- the principles that actually produce in them a new kind of freedom -- they have to know where to look for it. From micro to macro, you can discover that the whole universe is based on cycles and that these cycles run through our lives, determining our relationships with each other. And yet, there is something -- which we will call Love -- that contains these cycles… and it is right inside of us.
There is one essential ingredient missing in most of our relationships -- one that is definitely required if we wish to continue in our own development and help others to do the same. What is this powerful catalyst that only we can provide for each other? Room in which to grow.
The journey to the divinity within has its dangers. About this we are clear: the inner path is lined with many trials and pitfalls. But there is nothing to be feared in this realization. In truth, these encounters are actually stages of initiation; they are necessary points along the upper path where the aspirant reaches – again and again – the proverbial "fork in the road." A great confusion usually clouds these unwanted moments. The aspirant can't see down either path, as a kind of darkness shrouds the entrance to both.
Love often appears at our door as a beggar in disguise. There are countless ancient myths that tell how the gods would show up at the door of someone’s home, appearing to be in dire straits. On the surface of things, they seem to be seeking food and shelter; but, in truth, they’ve come to ask if the ones they have chosen to visit will make room for them in their lives.