Power Of Now Book Quotes

[Relationships] do not cause pain and unhappiness. They bring out the pain and unhappiness that is already in you

To the ego, the present moment hardly exists. Only past and future are considered important.

As soon as you honor the present moment, all unhappiness and struggle dissolve.

The present moment is all you ever have.

What could be more futile, more insane, than to create inner resistance to something that already is?

Your outer journey may contain a million steps; your inner journey only has one: the step you are taking right now.

All you can do is create a space for transformation to happen, for grace and love to enter.

Nothing has happened in the past; it happened in the Now. Nothing will ever happen in the future; it will happen in the Now.

If you can get the inside right, the outside will fall into place.

To know yourself as the Being underneath the thinker, the stillness underneath the mental noise, the love and joy underneath the pain, is freedom, salvation, enlightenment.

Always say “yes” to the present moment. What could be more futile, more insane, than to create inner resistance to what already is? what could be more insane than to oppose life itself, which is now and always now? Surrender to what is. Say “yes” to life — and see how life suddenly starts working for you rather than against you.

The mind is a superb instrument if used rightly. Used wrongly, however, it becomes very destructive. To put it more accurately... you usually don't use it at all. It uses you.

Be at least as interested in what goes on inside you as what happens outside. If you get the inside right, the outside will fall into place.

Wherever you are, be there totally. If you find your here and now intolerable and it makes you unhappy, you have three options: remove yourself from the situation, change it, or accept it totally. If you want to take responsibility for your life, you must choose one of those three options, and you must choose now. Then accept the consequences.

When you complain, you make yourself a victim. When you speak out, you are in power.

The best indicator of your level of consciousness is how you deal with life's challenges when they come. Through those challenges, an already unconscious person tends to become more deeply unconscious, and a conscious person more intensely conscious. You can use a challenge to awaken you, or you can allow it to pull you into even deeper sleep. The dream of ordinary unconsciousness then turns into a nightmare.

I have lived with several Zen masters -- all of them cats.

See if you can catch yourself complaining in either speech or thought, about a situation you find yourself in, what other people do or say, your surroundings, your life situation, even the weather. To complain is always nonacceptance of what is. It invariably carries an unconscious negative charge. When you complain, you make yourself a victim. Leave the situation or accept it. All else is madness.

Death is a stripping away of all that is not you. The secret of life is to "die before you die" --- and find that there is no death.

Die before you die and find that there is no death.

As soon as you honor the present moment, all unhappiness and struggle dissolve, and life begins to flow with joy and ease. When you act out the present-moment awareness, whatever you do becomes imbued with a sense of quality, care, and love - even the most simple action.

You find God the moment you realize that you don't need to seek God

As far as inner transformation is concerned, there is nothing you can do about it. You cannot transform yourself, and you certainly cannot transform your partner or anybody else. All you can do is create a space for transformation to happen, for grace and love to enter.

You cannot find yourself by going into the past. You can find yourself by coming into the present.

All true artists, whether they know it or not, create from a place of no-mind, from inner stillness.

The most common ego identifications have to do with possessions, the work you do, social status and recognition, knowledge and education, physical appearance, special abilities, relationships, person and family history, belief systems, and often nationalistic, racial, religious, and other collective identifications. None of these is you.

Unease, anxiety, tension, stress, worry

Where there is anger, there is always pain underneath.

Always work with the present moment, not against it. Make it your friend and ally, not your enemy. This will miraculously transform your whole life.

Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have. Make the Now the primary focus of your life.

Every addiction starts with pain and ends with pain.

Every addiction arises from an unconscious refusal to face and move through your own pain. Every addiction starts with pain and ends with pain. Whatever the substance you are addicted to - alcohol, food, legal or illegal drugs, or a person - you are using something or somebody to cover up your pain.

Any action is often better than no action, especially if you have been stuck in an unhappy situation for a long time. If it is a mistake, at least you learn something, in which case it's no longer a mistake. If you remain stuck, you learn nothing.

All negativity is caused by an accumulation of psychological time and denial of the present. Unease, anxiety, tension, stress, worry - all forms of fear - are caused by too much future, and not enough presence. Guilt, regret, resentment, grievances, sadness, bitterness, and all forms of nonforgiveness are caused by too much past, and not enough presence.

All negativity is caused by an accumulation of psychological time and denial of the present.

Your True Nature Is Love. There's Nothing You Can Do About It.

Ignore reality, there's nothing you can do about it.

All you realy need to do is accept this moment fully. You are then at ease in the here and now and at ease with yourself.

Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it.