“Meditation is mental training. Meditation is a profound psychological technique to stop wrong conceptions and to start the correct way of thinking that leads to peace, happiness, and harmony.”  -Lama Zopa Rinoche, How To Be Happy, p. 7-8.

“The purpose of meditation is to stop thinking for a time, wait for the fog of thoughts to thin, and glimpse the spirit within.”  -Deepak Chopra, The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire, p. 170.

“Meditation is the art of opening to each moment with calm awareness.”   -Victor N. Davich, The Best Guide to Meditation, p. 31.

“Detailed analysis showed meditation produced important cardiovascular, cortical, hormonal, and metabolic benefits, along with several positive behavioral effects and significant beneficial alterations of interior experience, perception, and self-image.”  -Victor N. Davich, The Best Guide to Meditation, p. 28.

Beginners Meditation Class in Lexington, Kentucky, The first Thursday of each month, 2012,  from 6:00 – 7:30 P.M. Email: luannhamon@kyhypnosis.com. For more information see ” classes” at kyhypnosis.com.

“Your subconscious mind has the answer.”

“If you are confronted with a problem and you cannot see an immediate answer, assume that your subconscious has a solution and is waiting to reveal it to you.”

“If an answer does not come, turn the problem over to your deeper mind prior to sleep. Keep on turning your request over to your subconscious until the answer comes.”

“The response will be a certain ‘feeling’, an inner awareness, whereby you ‘know’ what to do. Guidance in all things comes as the still small voice within: It reveals all.”   Brian Adams, How to Succeed.

“Meditation’s calm
The sweet incense it brings
Restores us to peaceful
Inner wellsprings
Helps us shed all cares
Cools and soothes the soul
Clears the mind
Makes us whole.”
C. Alexander Simpkins

“Prayer is like talking to God,
meditation is a way of listening to God.”
Edgar Cayce, The Divine Within

“Thoughtful action to establish order. Meditation is nothing other than a relaxation technique with various larger purposes.”  Andrew Weil

“Breath and consciousness become pure. It is exactly like muddy water left to stand in a glass. Little by little, the sediment sinks to the bottom and the water becomes pure.”  Taisen Deshimaru

“When thine eye is single thy whole body also is full of light.”  Jesus of Nazareth

“The people we are in relationship with are always a mirror, reflecting our own beliefs, and simultaneously we are mirrors reflecting their beliefs.

So relationship is one of the most powerful tools for growth…if we look honestly at our relationships we can see so much about how we have created them.”   Shakti Gawain, Creative Visualization

“Our time out of relationship is just as important as our time in it. Indeed, it may be said that, when we are alone, we are preparing to be in relationship and, when we are in relationship, we are preparing to be alone. Hopefully, we begin to learn the lesson of our last relationship before we go into a new one. Then we can experience new challenges and grow in new ways.”  Paul Ferrini, Creating A Spiritual Relationship, page 119.

“Coming to completion in relationship is an internal task, not an interactive one. We do the best we can to separate in a dignified and loving way and to support each other in pursuing our new lives. That makes it easier for us to come to completion. But completion itself depends on our willingness to use relationship to move into greater appreciation of and fidelity to who we are and what we need. Then, we don’t betray ourselves in the next relationship.” Paul Ferrini, Creating A Spiritual Relationship, page 120.

“The more clear we get about who we are and what we want in a relationship, the easier it will be for us to be honest with others. That honesty will prevent us from getting involved in relationships with people who are unwilling to respect our experience or to work consciously with the unconscious material that inevitably comes up in a relationship.”  Paul Ferrini, Creating A Spiritual Relationship, page 120.

Dancing on the rooftops in NYC.

“Strength does not come after one climbs the ladder or the mountain, not after one “makes it” -whatever that “it” represents. Strengthening oneself is essential to the process of striving-especially before and during-as well as after. It is my belief that attention to and devotion to the nature of soul represents the quintessential strength.”

“There is much afoot at any given time that can make a shambles of spirit and soul by attempting to destroy intent, or by pressuring one to forget the important questions; Questions such as, not only what are the pragmatics of a situation, but also “where is the soul in this matter?” One proceeds in life, gains ground, reverses injustice, and stands against the winds, through strength of spirit.”

“This strengthening, whether with words, prayer, contemplation of various kinds, or by other means, comes from a numen, a greatness that rests at the center of the psyche and yet is greater than the whole of the psyche. This numen is entirely accessible, must be attended to and nourished. Its existence, regardless of its many appellations, is an incontrovertible psychic fact.”

Clarissa Pinkola Estes, PH.D., Women Who Run With The Wolves, Myths and Stores of the Wild Woman Archetypes, page 478.

Photo taken by Nicole Wolcott.

“As in the tale, (Sealskin, Soulskin – page 257), if we establish a regular practice of intentional solitude, we invite a conversation between ourselves and the wild soul that comes near to our shore. We do this not only just to ‘be near’ the wild and soulful nature, but as in the metaphysical tradition since time out of mind, the purpose of this union is for us to ask questions, and for the soul to advise.” page 293

“This means using one’s mind to summon the soul-self. Everyone has at least one familiar state of mind in which to effect this kind of solitude. For myself, solitude is rather  like a folded up forest that I carry with me everywhere and unfurl around myself when I have need. I sit at the feet of the great old trees of my childhood. From that vantage point, I ask my questions, receive my answers, then coalesce my woodland back down to the size of a love note till next time. The experience is immediate, brief, informative.” page 293

“After a period of time, the cumulative effect of intentional solitude begins to act like a vital respiratory system, a natural rhythm of adding knowledge, making minute adjustments, and deleting the unusable over and over again… Over time, as you practice, you will find yourself designing your own queries to the soul. Sometimes you may have only one question. Other times you may have none whatsoever and just wish to rest on the rock near the soul, breathing together.” page 295

Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Ph.D., Women Who Run With The Wolves, Myths And Stories Of The Wild Woman Archetype.

“Everything is I can’t instead of I can. I can’t really means I don’t want to. There is a feeling of hopelessness and helplessness. Expectation of the worst is quite likely to bring trouble, for it is in the form of negative suggestions and the subconscious may then cause behavior which will bring trouble.”  page 88

“With positive thinking his subconscious mind leads him to perform and behave so that he does the things necessary to succeed reasonably well and to enjoy good health.”  page 93

“Negative thinking has the opposite effect. The end result is unhappiness, worry, anxiety, frustration, and hostility. Conflicts produce these emotions and the negative thinker is more subject to emotional illness. He does not like to face reality. He fears to set goals because he anticipates failure, and he is not likely to be successful. His feelings of inferiority are like a ball and chain on his foot. His subconsciously controlled behavior will probably bring failure.”  page 94

“The real secret in thinking positively is belief. It is not easy to change the habit of negative thinking, but it can be accomplished. No one can think positively at all times, but it can be developed into a habit so that it is done most of the time. Such thinking is no magic wand to get us out of our difficulties instantly. Determination and patience are needed, with much practice of whatever techniques are used to produce positive thinking habits.”  page 94

Leslie M. LeCron, Clinical Psychologist, Self Hypnotism, The Technique And Its Use In daily Life.

Photo taken by Nicole Wolcott

“As A man thinketh in his heart, so he is.” Jesus, The Bible

“You are much too tolerant of your mind wanderings, and passively condone your mind’s miscreations.”  A Course in Miracles

“With single-mindedness
The master quells his thoughts.
He ends their wandering.
Seated in the cave of his heart,
He finds freedom…

Your worst enemy cannot harm you
As much as your own thoughts,
unguarded.

But once mastered,
No one can help you as much,
Not even your father or mother.”
Buddha

“It is the thoughts in your mind that affect most profoundly your marriages and other relationships.”  Henry Grayson, Ph.D., Mindful Loving, page 86.

The above quotes can be found in the book, Mindful Loving, by Henry Grayson, Ph.D.  There are many self-help techniques, exercises, and much information in this book to help you transform your relationships into healthy and fulfilling relationships. I recommend it.

Photo taken by Nicole Wolcott

“The spiritual relationship is a common state of mind, where both give errors gladly to correction, that both may happily be healed as one.’ “   A Course In Miracles

“Most of our energy goes into upholding our universe. If we were capable of losing some of our importance, two extraordinary things would happen to us. One, we would free our energy from trying to maintain the illusion of grandeur, and two, we would provide ourselves with enough energy to catch a glimpse of the actual grandeur of the universe.  Carlos Castaneda

“One hallmark of wholeness is the ability to love yourself. In the realm of love, a paradox exists: you can effectively love others only when you can love yourself. If you cannot love yourself, you will try to fill the void of your own lack of self-love with the love of others. You will tend to demand from others, what you cannot give yourself. This demand places an unfair burden on those around you. It makes you a bottomless pit; no matter how much love they give, it is never enough.” The same problem exists if you try to give love to other people who do not love themselves. You will turn yourself inside out loving them, but it will not help. We all must learn to give ourselves the love we want. Then other people can love us and it will feel satisfying because it is not filling a void. It becomes love dancing with itself.”  Gay Hendricks, Ph.D., & Kathlyn Hendricks, Ph.D., Conscious Loving, page 90 & 91.

“Yet we all know how much our minds are filled with judging thoughts, fear thoughts, and other thoughts that not only disturb our inner peace, but also seriously undermine loving relationships. Therefore we need a tool to help us be more effective in our thought monitoring and meditation is such a tool, for it is essentially a practice session on being an objective witness to our thoughts and then consciously returning our minds to focus on a place of our choosing, such as mantra or breath.”  Henry Grayson, Ph.D., Mindful Loving, page 244.

Photo taken by Nicole Wolcott

“When we cling to thoughts and memories, we are clinging to what cannot be grasped. When we touch these phantoms and let them go, we may discover a space, a break in the chatter, a glimpse of open sky. This is our birthright-the wisdom with which we were born, the vast unfolding display of primordial richness, primordial openness, primordial wisdom itself. When one thought has ended and another has not yet begun, we can rest in that space.”  Pema Chodron, Comfortable With Uncertainty, page 142

“Take some time to be present. Breathe and be here now. Be in the silence of your heart. Let your thoughts come and go until the space between them opens. Let your feelings of anxiety, boredom, frustration come and go until a softness comes into your heart, a patience with yourself, a forgiveness that rides in and out on each breath.   Let peace come into your heart, all by itself. As you allow space to be there, feel the  presence that comes in. That is the spirit of God, call it what you will. Now there is only love; there are only blessings.”  Paul Ferrini, Reflections of The Christ Mind, page 131

“You know that God is your instant, constant , and abundant supply. When you ’seek first the Kingdom,’ you meditate deeply on the Truth of your oneness with God. You enter a higher dimension in thought…”  Eric Bitterworth, Discover The Power Within You, page 133