“Acceptance does not mean that we have to allow things into our lives that aren’t good for us. Obviously, we wouldn’t go out and commit a crime because we believed there was something to be gained by learning to confront fears we have about such behavior. We don’t become whole unless we recognize the need to set boundaries and be able to discriminate between what’s right and not right for us.

Being willing to learn from our relationships does not mean that we should stay in situations that are not good for us. If a relationship is physically or emotionally abusive, what we have to learn from it is how to set boundaries and protect ourselves. This could mean going into couples counseling to seek real and lasting resolutions. Or it could mean leaving the relationship if that is the only way we could effectively take care of ourselves.”

Shakti Gawain, in “The Path of Transformation”

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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.

“Life is a crossword puzzle, the right word gives you the answer. Many people are rattling off destructive words in their conversation. We hear them say, ‘I’m broke! I’m sick!  Remember by your words you are justified and by your words you are condemned. You are condemned by them because they do not return void.  Change your words and you change your world, for your word IS your world.”

Florence Scovel Shinn, in “Power of the Spoken Word”

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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 someone starts out with, “You should have,” try telling the person, “If you can get me a round-trip ticket back to the same time you’re talking about, I’ll gladly do what you say I should have done. But if you can’t…” Your “opponent” will get the message that you are wise to the trap, which is more than half your battle. Alternately, you can try, “You are right, I should have.” Once you’ve agreed, the responsibility is on your “adversary” to deal with you in the present.”

Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, in “Pulling Your Own Strings”

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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.

“Hope is important, because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today. But that is the most that hope can do for us – to make some hardship lighter. When I think deeply about the nature of hope, I see something tragic. Since we cling to our hope in the future, we do not focus our energies and capabilities on the present moment.

We use hope to believe something better will happen in the future, that we will arrive at peace, or the Kingdom of God. Hope becomes a kind of obstacle. If you can refrain from hoping, you can bring yourself entirely into the present moment and discover the joy that is already there.”

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.

“Just because some area of your life is out of balance now does not mean that it cannot lead to success. Taking a fall doesn’t mean you can’t get up and try again. People told Roger Bannister that it was impossible to break the four-minute mile, but he did it anyway. Gandhi was told that there was no way he could bring the British Empire down without violence, but he did it anyway. Rosa Parks decided that enough was enough and sat down to make a stand that changed America. The list goes on and on. Balance is no different now that you know what it is, where it is, and how you can reach it. Nothing is “impossible” anymore unless you deem it so.

An important factor in creating a life in balance is engaging yourself in something you love to do. Far too many of us settle for less than we can be because we are not willing to put the time, energy, and effort into our dreams. It’s a far better existence doing what you love to do rather than spending a lifetime working for a living because that’s all you know. Find people who are doing what you would like to do. Ask them how they got started, what route they took, how they arrived. People who have built their dreams from the ground up are usually more than willing to share what they have learned on the path. They were once where you are and have great respect for the journey.”

John St. Augustine, in “Living an Uncommon Life

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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.