A Master Practicing

So while I am quoting Smothermon, here's one of my favorite quotes that came from his book (see previous blog titled “some of my favorite books”:

“So, a master practicing starts with the fact that she is whole and complete. Because she says so, and for no other reason. She also starts from the fact that her relationships are whole, complete, and perfect. They are exactly the way they should be. Why? Because she says so, no other reason. As relationships change, that is exactly what they should be doing: changing. When they seem to stay the same, that is exactly what they should be doing: staying the same. When she changes them, that is exactly the appropriate thing to do: change them. When others change them, that is seen as the appropriate thing to happen. How can all this be so? Because a master practicing says so, and for no other reason. This is called living at cause in your relationships.”

“You see, a master practicing lets life be the way it is. When you let life be the way it is, you'll find out that it validates and supports you. Always. So, if life is not validating in supporting you, you are not letting it be the way it is. At that point, when you're willing to let it be the way it is, a certain satisfaction comes over you. Said another way, you create the context of satisfaction by doing nothing. From the context of satisfaction you can absolutely beat life into shape. As you beat it, you're satisfied. As it changes shape, you're satisfied. When you notice the shape you’ve beat it into, you're satisfied. Everything becomes a contribution to your state of satisfaction. So letting life be the way it is doesn't mean not to change it. You will change it totally, but not so that it will get better. You will change it as a game, nothing more. For, you see, if you beat life to change it to be better, that would be coming from dissatisfaction.”

Those are good thoughts worth pondering.

My favorite books

In a book I recently read, titled “Winning through Enlightenment” I came across one of the most profound and true statements I’ve ever seen. The author, Ron Smothermon M.D., says, “You are enlightened in direct proportion to the number of teachers you have in your life.” In other words, as we let others become our instructors, from whatever medium that come, we are able to live more freely.

With that in mind, I wanted to share with everyone my list of favorite books. I’ve been very fortunate to have read a large number of books that relate to our mental, emotional, and spiritual dimensions of life. And from these books I’ve learned a lot about what other great minds have thought about living well and happily.

Here is the list:

http://faculty.weber.edu/molpin/healthclasses/1110/greatbooks.html

If you have any personal favorites that we all should be aware of that aren’t on the list, please feel free to contribute yours.