“There’s nothing worse than going to one of those New Age conferences and watching all those people strut about. Grim. Absolutely grim. People have such a strange idea about spirituality. They think spirituality is holy-moly, clanking little bells, putting on vestments and robes.

Spirituality is the garbage man who believes in himself, the bag lady who knows who she is. She’s living an uncluttered life – she’s sleeping under the bridge in Central Park. That’s spirituality, where you become the simplicity of the raven flying overhead, the simplicity of the little animal in the forest – at one and at peace with all things, at one and at peace with yourself.”

Stuart Wilde, in “Infinite Self”

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Jeff 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.

“Criticism, like swearing, is actually nothing more than a bad habit. It’s something we get used to doing; we’re familiar with how it feels. It keeps us busy and gives us something to talk about.

If, however, you take a moment to observe how you actually feel immediately after you criticize someone, you’ll notice that you will feel a little deflated and ashamed, almost like you’re the one who has been attacked. The reason this is true is that when we criticize, it’s a statement to the world and to ourselves, “I have a need to be critical.” This isn’t something we are usually proud to admit.

The solution is to catch yourself in the act of being critical. Notice how often you do it and how bad it makes you feel. What I like to do is turn it into a game. I still catch myself being critical, but as my need to criticize arises, I try to remember to say to myself, “There I go again.” Hopefully, more often than not, I can turn my criticism into tolerance and respect.”

Richard Carlson, PH.D., in “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff”

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Jeff 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.

“Never act out of scarcity or panic. Do not allow yourself to be pressured into doing something you do not want to do or are not ready to do. Never let anyone frighten you into a decision. If you do, you will surely regret your action. Then you will have to retrace your steps and undo what you did from a position of “not enough.”

Instead, proceed from choice. Act when you are ready to act. Wait until you have come to a decision that works for you. If it’s not a “Hell, yes!” it’s a “Hell, no!” Associate with friends and business colleagues who are motivated by a positive vision than panic, hustling, or emotional manipulation. As you trust your inner knowing, your decisions will honor you and your intention.”

Alan Cohen, in “Why Your Life Sucks…And What You Can Do About It

For more information about this book, visit Amazon.

Jeff 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.

“I don’t know if it is human nature or the way of life on Earth, but we seldom become all of who we are until forced into it. Some say that something in us rises to the occasion, that there is, as Hemingway called it, “a grace under pressure” that comes forth in most of us when challenged. Others say this talk of grace is merely a way to rationalize hard times and painful experience, a way to put a good face on tragedy.

Yet beneath all the talk of tragedy and grace, I have come to believe that we are destined to be opened by the living of our days, and whether we like it or not, whether we choose to participate or not, we will, in time, every one of us, wear the deeper part of who we are as a new skin.

Either by erosion from without or by shedding from within – and often from both – we are forced to live more authentically. And once the crisis that opened us passes, the real choice then becomes: Will we continue such authentic living?”

Mark Nepo, in “The Book of Awakening”

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Jeff 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.

“An ancient teaching says, “The world is a teacher to the wise man and an enemy to the fool.” No event is painful in and of itself. It’s all a matter of perspective. It’s important to understand that everything happening in the world is as it should be every moment. There are no mistakes. There are no accidents. The world is a heavenly sky and a bottomless pit. When we understand that we cannot have one without the other, it becomes easier to accept the world as it is.”

Debbie Ford, in “The Dark Side of the Light Chasers”

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BEST of BONUS PONDER on THIS

“Watch out for anyone who says, “I have so much love to give and no one to give it to.” Immediately translate that into, “I am the emotional black hole of the universe, and I will suck every ounce of life force from you if you let me.”

Elaine Boosler

Jeff 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.