Cecilia Vinter > Cecilia's Quotes

“Perhaps our dreams are there to be broken, and our plans are there to crumble, and our tomorrows are there to dissolve into todays, and perhaps all of this is all a giant invitation to wake up from the dream of separation, to awaken from the mirage of control, and embrace whole-heartedly what is present. Perhaps it is all a call to compassion, to a deep embrace of this universe in all its bliss and pain and bitter-sweet glory. Perhaps we were never really in control of our lives, and perhaps we are constantly invited to remember this, since we constantly forget it. Perhaps suffering is not the enemy at all, and at its core, there is a first-hand, real-time lesson we must all learn, if we are to be truly human, and truly divine. Perhaps breakdown always contains breakthrough. Perhaps suffering is simply a right of passage, not a test or a punishment, nor a signpost to something in the future or past, but a direct pointer to the mystery of existence itself, here and now. Perhaps life cannot go 'wrong' at all.”
― Jeff Foster

“This moment is not life waiting to happen, goals waiting to be achieved, words waiting to be spoken, connections waiting to be made, regrets waiting to evaporate, aliveness waiting to be felt, enlightenment waiting to be gained. No. Nothing is waiting. This is it. This moment is life.”
― Jeff Foster, Falling in Love with Where You Are

“Since everything is only an illusion, perfect in being what it is, having nothing to do with good or bad, acceptance or rejection, one might as well burst out laughing! – Longchenpa”
― Jeff Foster, Falling in Love with Where You Are

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes. MARCEL PROUST”
― Jeff Foster, The Deepest Acceptance: Radical Awakening in Ordinary Life

“Why does it often take extreme life situations to bring back an awareness of the magic and mystery of life? Why do we often wait until we’re about to die before discovering a deep gratitude for life as it is? Why do we exhaust ourselves seeking love, acceptance, fame, success, or spiritual enlightenment in the future? Why do we work or meditate ourselves into the grave? Why do we postpone life? Why do we hold back from it? What are we looking for exactly? What are we waiting for? What are we afraid of? Will the life we long for really come in the future? Or is it always closer than that?”
― Jeff Foster, The Deepest Acceptance: Radical Awakening in Ordinary Life

“Love says “I am everything”. Wisdom says “I am nothing”. Between the two, my life flows. - Nisargadatta Maharaj”
― Jeff Foster, An Extraordinary Absence

“AN INVITATION I don’t want to hear what you believe I’m not at all interested in your certainty I couldn’t care less about your unexcelled perfection Share with me your doubts Open up your tender heart Let me in to your struggles I’ll meet you in that place Where your spiritual conclusions Are starting to crack open That’s where the creativity lies That’s where the newness shines That’s where we can truly meet: Beyond the image Your imperfections Are so perfect In this light I don’t want you to be perfect I want you to be real”
― Jeff Foster, Falling in Love with Where You Are: A Year of Prose and Poetry on Radically Opening Up to the Pain and Joy of Life

“Stop thinking your way through life, always trying to work it out before living it. Life is to be lived, not analyzed to death. Feel”
― Jeff Foster, The Way of Rest: Finding The Courage to Hold Everything in Love

“It’s delicious, ingenious, perfect, intelligent that you never felt like you fit in. It means that you were always alive, and therefore unique and irreplaceable, designed to resist any kind of labeling whatsoever, unable to be pinned down or reduced to a category.”
― Jeff Foster, The Way of Rest: Finding The Courage to Hold Everything in Love

“Those who love you are not fooled by mistakes you have made or dark images you hold about yourself. They remember your beauty when you feel ugly; your wholeness when you are broken; your innocence when you feel guilty; and your purpose when you are confused.”
― Alan Cohen

“It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful.”
― Alan Cohen

“Everything will line up perfectly when knowing and living the truth becomes more important then proving anything to anyone”
― Alan Cohen

“When you learn to say yes to yourself, you will be able to say no to others, with love.”
― Alan Cohen

“You have the power to take away someone's happiness by refusing to forgive. That someone is you.”
― Alan Cohen

“To make the world a better place, see the world as a better place.”
― Alan Cohen

“Preparing to live your dream is postponing it. You are either living it, or not.”
― Alan Cohen

“Have you ever seen a stereogram?
The 'Truth' the Stereogram shows us is there in front of us. Training and work doesn't make us see it.
It's a point of view, a different way of looking at it.
When you see it you try to explain it to someone else and you
realize you can't.
It simple, super simple, yet almost impossible to explain.
There are 'techniques' to see them but some people may spend
years trying without results. Others can do it in seconds.
It doesn't change the fact that the image is there all the time in
front of us.
And it's Beautiful.”
― T.R. Cordón, GLIMPSES OF HER

“Your greatest awakening comes, when you are aware about your infinite nature.”
― Amit Ray, Meditation: Insights and Inspirations

“Does a man who is acting on the stage in a female part forget that he is a man? Similarly, we too must play our parts on the stage of life, but we must not identify ourselves with those parts.”
― Ramana Maharshi, Be As You Are

“Your duty is to be and not to be this or that. 'I am that I am' sums up the whole truth. The method is summed up in the words 'Be still'. What does stillness mean? It means destroy yourself. Because any form or shape is the cause for trouble. Give up the notion that 'I am so and so'. All that is required to realize the Self is to be still. What can be easier than that?”
― Ramana Maharshi

“Happiness is your nature. It is not wrong to desire it. What is wrong is seeking it outside when it is inside.”
― Sri Ramana Maharshi

“Your own Self-Realization is the greatest service you can render the world.”
― Ramana Maharshi

“Whatever is destined not to happen will not happen, try as you may. Whatever is destined to happen will happen, do what you may to prevent it. This is certain. The best course, therefore, is to remain silent.”
― Ramana Maharshi

“Wanting to reform the world without discovering one's true self is like trying to cover the world with leather to avoid the pain of walking on stones and thorns. It is much simpler to wear shoes.”
― Ramana Maharshi

“All that is required to realise the Self is to “Be Still.”
― Ramana Maharshi

“The only useful purpose of the present birth is to turn within and realize the Self.”
― Ramana Maharshi

“Do what is right at a given moment and leave it behind”
― Ramana Maharshi

“when there is no ‘I’ there is no karma.”
― Ramana Maharshi, The Collected Works of Sri Ramana Maharshi

“The Power that created you has created the world as well. If it can take care of you, it can similarily take care of the world also. If God has created the world, it is His business to look after it, not yours.”
― Ramana Maharshi

“Solitude is in the mind of man. One might be in the thick of the world and maintain serenity of mind; such a one is in solitude. Another may stay in a forest, but still be unable to control his mind. He cannot be said to be in solitude. Solitude is a function of the mind. A man attached to desire cannot get solitude wherever he may be; a detached man is always in solitude.”
― Ramana Maharshi, Talks With Ramana Maharshi: On Realizing Abiding Peace and Happiness