“What about the future? Can you believe that if you keep on thinking the same thoughts, saying the same words, doing the same things, going in the same direction, the future will be any different than now? To look to the future as a savior without changing the present is to think an orange tree can grow from an acorn.

Yes, you can change the direction of your life, but changes can’t happen in the past or the future; they can only happen in the NOW. At each now moment there exists an unlimited amount of possibilities, which makes anytime a good time for a new beginning. In fact, every moment is a new beginning. You don’t have to wait for a new year to resolve to make a new life. You are, right now, at the junction of what you were and what you can be. This junction of your life, this now moment, is ripe with possibilities.”

Richard and Mary-Alice Jafolla, in “The Quest”

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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.

“Forgiveness is the only way to heal. We can choose to forgive because we feel compassion for ourselves. We can let go of the resentment and declare, “That’s enough! I will no longer be the big Judge that goes against myself. I will no longer beat myself up and abuse myself. I will no longer be the Victim.”

First, we need to forgive our parents, our brother, our sisters, our friends, and God. Once you forgive God, you can finally forgive yourself. One you forgive yourself, the self-rejection in your mind is over. Self-acceptance begins, and the self-love will grow so strong that you will finally accept yourself just the way you are. That’s the beginning of the free human. Forgiveness is the key.”

Don Miguel Ruiz, in “The Four Agreements”

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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.

“It is possible for all the events of the past to remain as they were, but to see them in a way that makes our history a blessing. It is not so much the things we did that hurt us, but our interpretations and judgments about them. What we believe were our sins were honest errors. We and those around us have always done the best we could with the knowledge, experience, and understanding we had at the time. If we could have done better, we would have.

Remember that if we were totally perfect in expression, we probably would not be here in the first place. But we are here, we are learning, and compassion frees us to walk our path as we acquire wisdom. We can liberate ourselves from years of pain or heartache by taking another look at past experiences and reframing them in a bigger picture, one which reveals them to be blessings.”

Alan Cohen, in “Dare to Be Yourself”

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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.

“When you are angry at someone, you can either express it or release it. Expressing anger, putting it out to the world verbally, always looking out to make sure no one takes advantage of you, telling people that they make you angry, will only attract more of what you are trying to avoid.

If you release anger, you no longer have it in you and you will not draw more to you. When you release those things that make you angry or sad or guilty, you no longer attract them to you. You can choose to release things without expressing anger, for you are a fully participating individual in everything that happens to you.”

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.

“As long as we are on the quest to be perfect, to fit some arbitrary image of the ideal person, we’ll be stuck. Think hamster on a wheel, stuck. We’ll be moving fast, sure. We’ll be busy, busy, busy, and we can even convince ourselves that we’re super-important, but we won’t be getting anywhere and we certainly won’t be growing into our best selves.

The practice of imperfection is about living well with all of your qualities – your strengths and talents, your flaws and failings. It’s about working with the success in your life and with the places where you don’t have it all figured out. When we recognize the limits of perfection, we become more comfortable with our less-than perfect behaviors. Living from this place of imperfection, then, becomes a power position, the path to wholeness.”

Polly Campbell, in “Imperfect Spirituality”

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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.