“Let me summarize the process. Focus attention on the feeling inside you. Know that it is the pain-body. Accept that it is there. Don’t think about it — don’t let the feeling turn into thinking. Don’t judge or analyze. Don’t make an identity for yourself out of it. Stay present, and continue to be the observer of what is happening inside you. Become aware not only of the emotional pain but also of “the one who observes,” the silent watcher. This is the power of the Now, the power of your own conscious presence. Then see what happens.”
― The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment
― The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment
“Nothing can give you joy. Joy is uncaused and arises from within as the joy of Being. It is an essential part of the inner state of peace, the state that has been called the peace of God. It is your natural state, not something that you need to work hard for or struggle to attain.”
― The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment
― The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment
“Equalization is present in every experience because the drive to equalize is emotion itself. Sadness is a feeling of powerlessness to make up for a perceived loss. Anger is the desire to equalize through force and aggression. Happiness is feeling liberated from pain, while guilt is the feeling that you deserve some pain that never arrived.10”
― Everything Is F*cked: A Book About Hope
― Everything Is F*cked: A Book About Hope
“Judgment is either to confuse someone’s unconscious behavior with who they are or to project your own unconsciousness onto another person and mistake that for who they are. To relinquish judgment does not mean that you do not recognize dysfunction and unconsciousness when you see it. It means “being the knowing” rather than “being the reaction” and the judge.”
― The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment
― The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment
“Aristotle described virtue as a kind of craft, something to pursue just as one pursues the mastery of any profession or skill. “We become builders by building and we become harpists by playing the harp,” he wrote. “Similarly, then, we become just by doing just actions, temperate by doing temperate actions, brave by doing brave actions.” Virtue is something we do. It’s something we choose.”
― Discipline Is Destiny: The Power of Self-Control
― Discipline Is Destiny: The Power of Self-Control
Carlos Esteban’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Carlos Esteban’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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