“When you plant lettuce, if it does not grow well, you don’t blame the lettuce. You look into the reasons it is not doing well. It may need fertilizer, or more water, or less sun. You never blame the lettuce. Yet if we have problems with our friends or our family, we blame the other person. But if we know how to take care of them, they will grow well, like lettuce.

Blaming has no positive effect at all, nor does trying to persuade using reason and arguments. That is my experience. No blame, no reasoning, no argument, just understanding. If you understand, and you show that you understand, you can love, and the situation will change.”

Thich Nhat Hanh, in “Peace Is Every Step”

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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.

“Try this spiritual practice: “What I see is a mirror showing me what I believe. Everything that happens in my life is a reflection of some belief I have about myself.” Try saying this to yourself every time you start to take your life or someone else’s life too seriously Say it when you are in pain and feel you can’t take another step forward. Say it when you are in love and can’t wait another moment for your lover.

Open your eyes as you embrace the experience. Don’t go to sleep. Don’t pretend that you know what something means. Just remember that everything that happens is a reflection of a belief that you have. Just look without judging. Look in simple acceptance. Look in surrender.”

Paul Ferrini, in “The Silence of the Heart”

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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.

“Sympathy is feeling sorry for others, seeing that what is happening to them is negative or bad. Compassion is seeing that what is happening to them is for their growth, and assisting them in seeing that also. Compassion reframes an experience they may perceive as unfortunate or bad into something that they can understand. Realize that when you feel sympathy for people, you begin to vibrate with them and take their lower energy into yourself. When you come from compassion, you do not bring in their negativity.

Being firm with people may not be easy but it can be a greater gift than being the nice guy all the time. You have experienced friends to whom you give and give, who do not seem to appreciate what you do. If your offers of help are doing no apparent good, it is time to put your energy elsewhere. You may risk not being liked in the short run, but in the long run you will gain from following this higher wisdom.”

Sanaya Roman, in “Personal Power through Awareness”

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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.

“The most heinous use of statistics I have seen showed up on a large sign at a metropolitan airport. The sign, sponsored by a cancer organization, blared, “By this time in five years, ____ of ____ you will not be in the picture.” (I have replaced the numbers with blanks so as not to perpetuate the inference. The sign showed photos of 20 faces, with a certain number blacked out to indicate they would be dead of cancer. I felt repulsed by this ad. The sign was programming a belief that would burrow into the subconscious of the hundreds of thousands of people who would view it, and contribute to the continuity of the statistic – in a way, a self-fulfilling prophecy.

You may justifiably argue that a statistic is simply a statement of the way it is; a certain percentage of people do die of cancer, and this is a fact. But facts are always evolving. They are not solid entities at all; they have a life span, disintegrate, and give way to new facts, sometimes quickly. Sir James Jeans noted, “Science should give up on making pronouncements. The river of truth has often turned back on itself.”

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

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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.

“The whole point of the journey from ego to spirit is one of acceptance. If you aren’t very confident or have a poor self-image, the first thing you need to do is accept that. The second thing is to gradually go past your shame, past your guilt, and work your way to where you can look at yourself in the mirror and say, “Hey, this person is okay. We’re moving up.”

The weakness of self-image is part of your experience and programming. You are here to transcend it. It forms a pivotal part of your sacred quest. So be brave and don’t be victimized by your inadequacies. They are just your teachers. They will strengthen you as you overcome them, and you will forge a new spiritual vision for 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.