BEST of PONDER on THIS for Thursday, April 16th, 2015 by Shakti Gawain in LIVING IN THE LIGHT

“The spirit always tends toward expansiveness, depth, greater energy, and aliveness. The form (ego/personality) always tends toward what it perceives to be safety, security, and the status quo, which is usually a deadening experience.

If you are able to observe yourself without rationalization or judgment you will begin to notice that when you trust yourself and follow your energy fully, you feel better. Conversely, when you follow you old patterns of fear and holding back, you feel worse. After awhile, your form gets the message clearly and begins to spontaneously follow the energy instead of the old pattern because it knows it will feel better. Eventually you have a form that automatically goes for the light in every situation, without having to think about it and control it.”

Shakti Gawain, in “Living in the Light”

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Jeff MJeff Maziarek, author of Spirituality Simplified and Codi’s Journey, launched Pondercentral.com in April 2007 as a Web-based forum for “PONDER on THIS,” a series of weekday inspirational email messages he began sending to subscribers in March 1999. A FREE service since its inception, “PONDER on THIS” provides subscribers with meaningful content to assist them on their individual paths of spiritual growth. In addition, it benefits subscribers, authors, and publishers by including links to Amazon.com where subscribers can learn more about the book being quoted, and also purchase it.

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BEST of PONDER on THIS for Wednesday, April 15th, 2015 by Eckhart Tolle in THE POWER OF NOW

“Identification with your mind creates an opaque screen of concepts, labels, images, words, judgments, and definitions that blocks all true relationship. It comes between you and yourself, between you and your fellow man and woman, between you and nature, between you and God. It is the screen of thought that creates the illusion of separateness, the illusion that there is you AND a totally separate “other.”

Thinking has become a disease. Disease happens when things get out of balance. For example, there is nothing wrong with cells dividing and multiplying in the body, but when this process continues in disregard of the total organism, cells proliferate and we have disease.

Note: The mind is a superb instrument if used rightly. Used wrongly, however, it becomes very destructive. To put it more accurately, it is not so much that you use your mind wrongly – you usually don’t use it at all. It uses YOU. This is the disease. You believe that you “are” your mind, this is the delusion. The instrument has taken you over.”

Eckhart Tolle, in “The Power of Now”

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Jeff MJeff Maziarek, author of Spirituality Simplified and Codi’s Journey, launched Pondercentral.com in April 2007 as a Web-based forum for “PONDER on THIS,” a series of weekday inspirational email messages he began sending to subscribers in March 1999. A FREE service since its inception, “PONDER on THIS” provides subscribers with meaningful content to assist them on their individual paths of spiritual growth. In addition, it benefits subscribers, authors, and publishers by including links to Amazon.com where subscribers can learn more about the book being quoted, and also purchase it.

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PONDER on THIS for Tuesday, April 14th, 2015 by Donald Altman in THE MINDFULNESS CODE

“When we lost our connection to the body, we lose one of our most important capacities for mindfulness. Right now, raise both of your arms out to your side. Close your eyes, and bring your arms slowly together until your palms touch. How were you able to know where your body was in space with your eyes closed? We possess a natural sense knows as proprioception, which is the ability to inwardly perceive the body’s spatial orientation in movement, moment by moment. Although you may largely live in your head, you can always return home to the body, the vital sense of being with which you took your first breath.”

Donald Altman, in “The Mindfulness Code”

For more information about this book visit Amazon.

Jeff MJeff Maziarek, author of Spirituality Simplified and Codi’s Journey, launched Pondercentral.com in April 2007 as a Web-based forum for “PONDER on THIS,” a series of weekday inspirational email messages he began sending to subscribers in March 1999. A FREE service since its inception, “PONDER on THIS” provides subscribers with meaningful content to assist them on their individual paths of spiritual growth. In addition, it benefits subscribers, authors, and publishers by including links to Amazon.com where subscribers can learn more about the book being quoted, and also purchase it.

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BEST of PONDER on THIS for Monday, April 13th, 2015 by Eric Butterworth in DISCOVER THE POWER WITHIN YOU

“We may have a perfect justification for our bitterness and anger. We may be completely righteous in our indignation. But we will have to pay the price of the broken connection of the divine circuits. The power that goes with our divinity is only ours when we act the part. We can have our unforgiveness and bitterness and anger if we so choose, but we will also have our stomach ulcers and nervous tension and heart trouble, and mental and physical breakdowns. Turn on the Light – not so much for the benefit of others, but for YOU. Forgive and you shall be forgiven.”

Eric Butterworth, in “Discover the Power Within You”

For more information about this book visit Amazon.

Jeff MJeff Maziarek, author of Spirituality Simplified and Codi’s Journey, launched Pondercentral.com in April 2007 as a Web-based forum for “PONDER on THIS,” a series of weekday inspirational email messages he began sending to subscribers in March 1999. A FREE service since its inception, “PONDER on THIS” provides subscribers with meaningful content to assist them on their individual paths of spiritual growth. In addition, it benefits subscribers, authors, and publishers by including links to Amazon.com where subscribers can learn more about the book being quoted, and also purchase it.

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BEST of PONDER on THIS for Friday, April 10th, 2015 by Sanaya Roman in SPIRITUAL GROWTH

“When people tell you of their problems, stop and decide if you want to tackle their problems with them. Listen to them closely and decide if they are willing to find solutions, or if they simply want to complain about how bad the problem is. Decide how much time you are willing to commit to assisting people, and give them a clear picture of the time, energy, and resources you will commit to their problems.

Before you pour energy into changing or assisting people, let go of your need to have other people grow, appreciate you, or act in any particular way. Sometimes your strong desire to have them change may be the very thing that keeps them from growing. As you detach and stop worrying about them, they will be freer to grow.”

Sanaya Roman, in “Spiritual Growth”

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Jeff MJeff Maziarek, author of Spirituality Simplified and Codi’s Journey, launched Pondercentral.com in April 2007 as a Web-based forum for “PONDER on THIS,” a series of weekday inspirational email messages he began sending to subscribers in March 1999. A FREE service since its inception, “PONDER on THIS” provides subscribers with meaningful content to assist them on their individual paths of spiritual growth. In addition, it benefits subscribers, authors, and publishers by including links to Amazon.com where subscribers can learn more about the book being quoted, and also purchase it.

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PONDER on THIS for Thursday, April 9th, 2015 by Marianne Williamson in THE GIFT OF CHANGE

“Being caught in anger, judgment, and blame is disempowering; it throws us out of our center; it puts us at the effect of the lovelessness of someone else. To be there for a while is one thing; to stay there and try to justify it is wrong-minded and will not lead to peace. Spirituality challenges us to detach from the purely personal, emotional aspects of a situation – the ego’s need to be right – in order to uplift ourselves to higher ground. That doesn’t mean we don’t feel our pain, our anger, our despair. But there is a way to hold such feelings in a sacred rather than chaotic way, so they heal us rather than poison us.”

Marianne Williamson, in “The Gift of Change”

For more information about this book visit Amazon.

Jeff MJeff Maziarek, author of Spirituality Simplified and Codi’s Journey, launched Pondercentral.com in April 2007 as a Web-based forum for “PONDER on THIS,” a series of weekday inspirational email messages he began sending to subscribers in March 1999. A FREE service since its inception, “PONDER on THIS” provides subscribers with meaningful content to assist them on their individual paths of spiritual growth. In addition, it benefits subscribers, authors, and publishers by including links to Amazon.com where subscribers can learn more about the book being quoted, and also purchase it.

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BEST of PONDER on THIS for Wednesday, April 8th, 2015 by Jack Kornfield in A PATH WITH HEART

“The unawakened mind tends to make war against the way things are. To follow a path with heart, we must understand the whole process of making war, within ourselves and without, how it begins and how it ends. War’s roots are in ignorance. Without understanding, we can easily become frightened by life’s fleeting changes, the inevitable losses, disappointments, the insecurity of our aging and death. Misunderstanding leads us to fight against life, running from pain or grasping at security and pleasures that by their nature can never be truly satisfying.

Our war against life is expressed in every dimension of our experience, inner and outer. Our children see, on average, eighteen thousand murders and violent acts on TV before they finish high school. The leading cause of injury for American women is the beatings by the men they live with. We carry on wars within ourselves, with our families and communities, among races and nations worldwide. The wars between peoples are a reflection of our own inner conflict and fear.”

Jack Kornfield, in “A Path With Heart”

For more information about this book visit Amazon.

Jeff MJeff Maziarek, author of Spirituality Simplified and Codi’s Journey, launched Pondercentral.com in April 2007 as a Web-based forum for “PONDER on THIS,” a series of weekday inspirational email messages he began sending to subscribers in March 1999. A FREE service since its inception, “PONDER on THIS” provides subscribers with meaningful content to assist them on their individual paths of spiritual growth. In addition, it benefits subscribers, authors, and publishers by including links to Amazon.com where subscribers can learn more about the book being quoted, and also purchase it.

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PONDER on THIS for Tuesday, April 7th, 2015 by Don Miguel Ruiz in THE VOICE OF KNOWLEDGE

“Every time we judge ourselves, find ourselves guilty, and punish ourselves, it’s because the voice in our head is telling us lies. Every time we have a conflict with our father, our mother, our children, or our beloved, it’s because we believe in these lies, and they believe in them too. But it’s not just that. When we believe in lies, we cannot see the truth, so we make thousands of assumptions and we take them as truth.

One of the biggest assumptions we make is that the lies we believe are the truth! For example, we believe that we know what we are. When we get angry we say, “Oh, that’s the way I am.” When we get jealous: “Oh, that’s the way I am.” When we hate: “Oh, that’s the way I am.” But is this true? I’m not sure about that. I used to make the assumption that I was the one who was talking, that I was the one who said all of those things that I didn’t want to say. It was a big surprise when I discovered that it was not me; it was the way I learned to be.”

Don Miguel Ruiz, in “The Voice of Knowledge”

For more information about this book visit Amazon.

Jeff MJeff Maziarek, author of Spirituality Simplified and Codi’s Journey, launched Pondercentral.com in April 2007 as a Web-based forum for “PONDER on THIS,” a series of weekday inspirational email messages he began sending to subscribers in March 1999. A FREE service since its inception, “PONDER on THIS” provides subscribers with meaningful content to assist them on their individual paths of spiritual growth. In addition, it benefits subscribers, authors, and publishers by including links to Amazon.com where subscribers can learn more about the book being quoted, and also purchase it.

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BEST of PONDER on THIS for Monday, April 6th, 2015 by Fr. Anthony DeMello in THE WAY TO LOVE

“The final disappearance of insecurity feelings will only come when you have attained that blessed ability of the birds of the air and the flowers of the field to live fully in the present, one moment at a time. The present moment, no matter how painful, is never unbearable. What is unbearable is what you think is going to happen in five hours or five days; and those words you keep saying in your head, words like, “This is terrible, this is unbearable, how long is this going to last,” and so on.

Birds and flowers are blessed above humans in that they have no concept of the future, no words in their heads, and no anxiety about what their fellows think of them. That is why they are such perfect images of the kingdom. So do not be anxious about tomorrow, tomorrow will look after itself.”

Fr. Anthony DeMello, S.J., in “The Way to Love”

For more information about this book visit Amazon.

Jeff MJeff Maziarek, author of Spirituality Simplified and Codi’s Journey, launched Pondercentral.com in April 2007 as a Web-based forum for “PONDER on THIS,” a series of weekday inspirational email messages he began sending to subscribers in March 1999. A FREE service since its inception, “PONDER on THIS” provides subscribers with meaningful content to assist them on their individual paths of spiritual growth. In addition, it benefits subscribers, authors, and publishers by including links to Amazon.com where subscribers can learn more about the book being quoted, and also purchase it.

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BEST of PONDER on THIS for Friday, April 3rd, 2015 by Alan Cohen in THE DRAGON DOESN’T LIVE HERE ANYMORE

“We must release the old to make room for the new. A friend of mine was praying and praying for a bigger and better apartment which she needed for herself and her family. But she was not doing anything about it. One day she was evicted by her landlord, and she was forced to find another place. The place that she found was the one that she had been praying for all along! She could not receive it, however, until she gave up the old one.

It is only when we stop trying to hold onto the past that we are able to fully accept the blessings that the present can offer us.”

Alan Cohen in, “The Dragon Doesn’t Live Here Anymore”

For more information about this book visit Amazon.

Jeff MJeff Maziarek, author of Spirituality Simplified and Codi’s Journey, launched Pondercentral.com in April 2007 as a Web-based forum for “PONDER on THIS,” a series of weekday inspirational email messages he began sending to subscribers in March 1999. A FREE service since its inception, “PONDER on THIS” provides subscribers with meaningful content to assist them on their individual paths of spiritual growth. In addition, it benefits subscribers, authors, and publishers by including links to Amazon.com where subscribers can learn more about the book being quoted, and also purchase it.

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PONDER on THIS for Thursday, April 2nd, 2015 by Tama Kieves in A YEAR WITHOUT FEAR

“Here’s how to take a risk. Decide it doesn’t have to “work out” immediately. It doesn’t have to lead to a preordained outcome. It doesn’t have to end up making a million dollars. It doesn’t even have to be “worth” a mention in the throwaway newsletter of your neighborhood. Follow the spur to do it. Enter the holy curriculum of listening to and learning about yourself. This commitment will lead, heal, and resurrect you. Allow yourself to be anointed. Remember, you risk more by denying yourself the chance to grow.”

Tama Kieves, in “A Year Without Fear”

For more information about this book visit Amazon

Jeff MJeff Maziarek, author of Spirituality Simplified and Codi’s Journey, launched Pondercentral.com in April 2007 as a Web-based forum for “PONDER on THIS,” a series of weekday inspirational email messages he began sending to subscribers in March 1999. A FREE service since its inception, “PONDER on THIS” provides subscribers with meaningful content to assist them on their individual paths of spiritual growth. In addition, it benefits subscribers, authors, and publishers by including links to Amazon.com where subscribers can learn more about the book being quoted, and also purchase it.

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BEST of PONDER on THIS for Wednesday, April 1st, 2015 by Wayne W. Dyer in MANIFEST YOUR DESTINY

“To be willing to accept total responsibility for yourself puts you in a position of being worthy of receiving and attracting the object of your desires. If someone else is responsible for your perceived shortcomings, and you are blaming them for these troubles, then you are also saying that in order to manifest your heart’s desire you need to have the permission of those others. This act of abdicating responsibility destroys your ability to empower yourself to higher levels of awareness.

When you know that you are responsible for how you chose to react to every life situation, and that you are essentially alone within yourself at all moments, then you can privately put out into the universe that which you want to bring to yourself. However, blaming others for your life situations shifts the power to those you believe are responsible for creating the circumstances.”

Wayne W. Dyer, in “Manifest Your Destiny”

For more information about this book visit Amazon.

Jeff MJeff Maziarek, author of Spirituality Simplified and Codi’s Journey, launched Pondercentral.com in April 2007 as a Web-based forum for “PONDER on THIS,” a series of weekday inspirational email messages he began sending to subscribers in March 1999. A FREE service since its inception, “PONDER on THIS” provides subscribers with meaningful content to assist them on their individual paths of spiritual growth. In addition, it benefits subscribers, authors, and publishers by including links to Amazon.com where subscribers can learn more about the book being quoted, and also purchase it.

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PONDER on THIS for Tuesday, March 31st, 2015 by Sara Chetkin in THE HEALING CURVE

“St. John of the Cross wrote about life as a chess game you play with God, who is teaching you how to play. The game is designed to suite your particular style of learning and to help you become a master of the game. In other words, your life circumstances are your opportunities for awakening. However, when we feel hurt or ashamed, we usually lash out or run from the experience rather than embracing it as an opportunity for growth. The world is in divine order. You will keep encountering these opportunities. The more resistant we are to these lessons, the more difficult the experiences will be until we finally give up a little control, until we finally say “enough is enough!” Then, we can change things. It’s up to you how much you will endure until you reach this point.

And when you do, you can start exploring the beliefs you take for granted, the ones that you never thought to question. The vast majority of these beliefs cause suffering, but many of our ideas about life are so ingrained in the collective psyche that they seem totally logical, even necessary to our survival. Many of us believe we need our anger, worry, and fear to survive. You may have such a deep-seated and firm conviction about something that it becomes extremely difficult to recognize how deeply it impacts the quality of your life.

We’ve all heard it said: everything happens for a reason. But what we rarely realize is that, most of the time, WE are the reason. We find ourselves in this or that situation because of choices we have made.”

Sara Chetkin, in “The Healing Curve”

For more information about this book visit Amazon.

Jeff MJeff Maziarek, author of Spirituality Simplified and Codi’s Journey, launched Pondercentral.com in April 2007 as a Web-based forum for “PONDER on THIS,” a series of weekday inspirational email messages he began sending to subscribers in March 1999. A FREE service since its inception, “PONDER on THIS” provides subscribers with meaningful content to assist them on their individual paths of spiritual growth. In addition, it benefits subscribers, authors, and publishers by including links to Amazon.com where subscribers can learn more about the book being quoted, and also purchase it.

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BEST of PONDER on THIS for Monday, March 30th, 2015 by Dan Millman in LIVING ON PURPOSE

“Many of us fear failure without realizing that we make little mistakes and tiny failures each day, in the process of living and learning. We drop things, we fail to find something we’re looking for, say or do something we could have done better.

We have also experienced larger, more noticeable mistakes or failures that seem to have bigger consequences. But how can we know for certain that these failures aren’t blessings in disguise, leading us to greater accomplishment?”

Dan Millman, in “Living on Purpose”

For more information about this book visit Amazon.

Jeff MJeff Maziarek, author of Spirituality Simplified and Codi’s Journey, launched Pondercentral.com in April 2007 as a Web-based forum for “PONDER on THIS,” a series of weekday inspirational email messages he began sending to subscribers in March 1999. A FREE service since its inception, “PONDER on THIS” provides subscribers with meaningful content to assist them on their individual paths of spiritual growth. In addition, it benefits subscribers, authors, and publishers by including links to Amazon.com where subscribers can learn more about the book being quoted, and also purchase it.

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BEST of PONDER on THIS for Friday, March 27th, 2015 by Michael Tamura in YOU ARE THE ANSWER

“When you find yourself judging others harshly, remember that your upset is not about them. It’s about you not being able to forgive and love yourself because you are holding that judgment inside of you. If in the past you were humiliated for being “stupid,” then you might create judgments against stupidity in order to cover your invalidation and loss of love for having been “stupid” yourself. You end up blaming “stupid” for your pain. Those who fit that same judgment of “stupid’ threaten to reopen you to the pain within YOU, so you chase them away by judging THEM. Let it be all right that someone once judged you, for it’s really that person’s problem to solve not yours. Those who create judgments must live with them and endure their consequences, not those who are the target of judgment.”

Michael J. Tamura, in “You Are the Answer”

For more information about this book visit Amazon.

Jeff MJeff Maziarek, author of Spirituality Simplified and Codi’s Journey, launched Pondercentral.com in April 2007 as a Web-based forum for “PONDER on THIS,” a series of weekday inspirational email messages he began sending to subscribers in March 1999. A FREE service since its inception, “PONDER on THIS” provides subscribers with meaningful content to assist them on their individual paths of spiritual growth. In addition, it benefits subscribers, authors, and publishers by including links to Amazon.com where subscribers can learn more about the book being quoted, and also purchase it.

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