Peter McWilliams

To the degree we're not living our dreams, our comfort zone has more control of us than we have over ourselves.

Negative thinking is always expensive--dragging us down mentally, emotionally, and physically--hence I refer to any indulgence in it as a luxury.

Guilt is anger directed at ourselves--at what we did or did not do.

Mistakes, obviously, show us what needs improving. Without mistakes, how would we know what we had to work on

Many people weigh the guilt they will feel against the pleasure of the forbidden action they want to take.

If our early lessons of acceptance were as successful as our early lessons of anger, how much happier we would all be.

The more severe the pain or illness, the more severe will be the necessary changes. These may involve breaking bad habits, or acquiring some new and better ones.

Pain (any pain--emotional, physical, mental) has a message. The information it has about our life can be remarkably specific, but it usually falls into one of two categories We would be more alive if we did more of this, and, Life would be more lovely if we did less of that. Once we get the pain's message, and follow its advice, the pain goes away.

In reality, serendipity accounts for one percent of the blessings we receive in life, work and love. The other 99 percent is due to our efforts.

Acceptance is such an important commodity, some have called it the first law of personal growth.

Acceptance is not a state of passivity or inaction. I am not saying you can't change the world, right wrongs, or replace evil with good. Acceptance is, in fact, the first step to successful action. If you don't fully accept a situation precisely the way it is, you will have difficulty changing it. Moreover, if you don't fully accept the situation, you will never really know if the situation should be changed.

Resentment is anger directed at others--at what they did or did not do.

Stubbornness is also determination. It's simply a matter of shifting from won't power to will power.

To use fear as the friend it is, we must retrain and reprogram ourselves...We must persistently and convincingly tell ourselves that the fear is here--with its gift of energy and heightened awareness--so we can do our best and learn the most in the new situation.

To avoid situations in which you might make mistakes may be the biggest mistake of all.

The simple solution for disappointment depression Get up and get moving. Physically move. Do. Act. Get going.