Soul Quotes

"Holding on to anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die." ~ Unknown

"Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; You are the only one who gets burned." ~ Unknown

"There is no amount of suffering you can wish upon another that will heal your own pain. Love, forgiveness and compassion are the only remedies for alleviating your own anguish." ~ Chris W Metz

"There was a startling recognition that the nature of the universe was not as I had been taught… I not only saw the connectedness, I felt it.… I was overwhelmed with the sensation of physically and mentally extending out into the cosmos. I realized that this was a biological response of my brain attempting to reorganize and give meaning to information about the wonderful and awesome processes that I was privileged to view." ~ Edgar Mitchell

"You see how diminutive your life and concerns are compared to other things in the universe… The result is that you enjoy the life that is before you… It allows you to have inner peace." ~ Edward Gibson

My mental boundaries expanded when I viewed the Earth against a black and uninviting vacuum, yet my country's rich traditions had conditioned me to look beyond man-made boundaries and prejudices. One does not have to undertake a space flight to come by this feeling. ~ Rakesh Sharma

"It was like drinking from a fire hose of information...I had heard of the Overview Effect but, having done many extreme things in my life...skydiving, mountain climbing, visiting the Titanic and Antarctica, I didn't think it would greatly affect me... That is until... I got into space! My life has changed because of my space experience." ~ Richard Garriott

A Chinese tale tells of some men sent to harm a young girl who, upon seeing her beauty, become her protectors rather than her violators. That's how I felt seeing the Earth for the first time. I could not help but love and cherish her. ~ Taylor Wang

“On my four space shuttle flights… I struggled constantly to make sense of an avalanche of new sensations and perceptions.” ~ Thomas Jones

“I saw for the first time the earth's shape. I could easily see the shores of continents, islands, great rivers, folds of the terrain, large bodies of water. The horizon is dark blue, smoothly turning to black... the feelings which filled me I can express with one word-joy.” ~ Yuri Gagarin

"To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don't need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

When we deprive ourselves of love, affection, self-respect, we over-compensate that loss with the ego. We scramble to be recognized, acknowledged, wanted, needed; and ultimately drain anything left of us that is authentic. ~ Amy Jalepeno

“Of course, being open and vulnerable will lead us to, sometimes, experience pain. But what is pain? It is simply a feeling. It is not forever. If you get pain from some person or thing too many times, you can always walk away. To risk a lifetime without pleasure simply to avoid pain is ludicrous.” ~ Vironika Tugaleva

"Vulnerability is the only door through which others are invited into our hearts. By being genuine we show others where that door is located. By being authentic we show others the untidy parts of our inner world. To let in is to simultaneously show them where the pain hides in us." ~ Chris W Metz

"We love seeing raw truth and openness in other people, but we’re afraid to let them see it in us. We're afraid that our truth isn't enough - that what we have to offer isn't enough without the bells and whistles, without the editing, and impressing." ~ Brene Brown

“Owning our story can be hard but not nearly as difficult as spending our lives running from it. Embracing our vulnerabilities is risky but not nearly as dangerous as giving up on love and belonging and joy—the experiences that make us the most vulnerable. Only when we are brave enough to explore the darkness will we discover the infinite power of our light.” ~ Brene Brown

"When we are Authentic, Vulnerable and Grateful we give the best we have to offer others, in turn we will receive the best that others have to give." ~ Chris W Metz

"To authentically give of anything, one must first possess it within themselves." ~ Chris W Metz

"Vulnerability is the only authentic state. Being vulnerable means being open, for wounding, but also for pleasure. Being open to the wounds of life means also being open to the bounty and beauty. Don't mask or deny your vulnerability; it is your greatest asset. Be vulnerable; quake in your boots with it. The new goodness that is coming to you, in the form of people, situations, and things can only come to you when you are vulnerable, i.e. open." ~ Steven Russell

“Suppose you are drinking a cup of tea. When you hold the cup, you may like to breath in, to bring your mind back to your body, and you become fully present. You must be completely awake in the present to enjoy the tea. Only in the awareness of the present, can your hands feel the pleasant warmth of the cup. Only in the present, can you savor the aroma, taste the sweetness, appreciate the delicacy. If you are ruminating about the past, or worrying about the future, you will completely miss the experience of enjoying the cup of tea. You will look down at the cup, and the tea will be gone. Life is like that. If you are not fully present, you will look around and it will be gone. You will have missed the feel, the aroma, the delicacy and beauty of life. It will seem to be speeding past you. The past is finished. Learn to let it go. The future is not even here yet. Plan for it, but do not waste your time worrying about it. Worrying is worthless. When you stop ruminating about what has already happened, when you stop
worrying about what might never happen, then you will be in the present moment. Then you will begin to enjoy the joy in life.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Why is [the now] the most precious thing? Firstly, because it is the only thing. It’s all there is. The eternal present is the space within which your whole life unfolds, the factor that remains constant. Life is now. There was never a time when your life was not now, nor will there ever be. Secondly, the Now is the only point that can take you beyond the limited confines of your mind. It is your only point of access to the timeless and formless realm of Being. ~ Eckhart Tolle

“Everything our life has been, or will ever be, is a result of how we consciously or unconsciously manage our present moments.”
~ Chris W Metz

"The average person looks without seeing, listens without hearing, touches without feeling, eats without tasting, moves without physical awareness and talks without thinking." ~ Leonardo da Vinci

"When we are unaware of what we are looking for, we will never appreciate what we find." ~ Chris W Metz

"Being fully present as you make choices, will increase the choices you can make."
~ Chris W Metz

"The present moment is the only moment available to us, and it is the door to all moments." ~ Thich-Nhat-Hanh

"There is a destiny that belief fulfills." ~ Chris W Metz

“Limiting beliefs may not at first appear consciously to you. You may find yourself in situations and wonder how and why the same types of things continue to happen to you, more than likely a limiting belief is at play.” ~ Chris W Metz

"Without beliefs we would not know what is true for ourselves, by formulating a belief we create the reality of what is true in our own world."
~ Chris W Metz

"The mind is infinite in its capacity to store information, with one exception, beliefs and ideas. The mind cannot hold opposing ideas or beliefs and therefore must evict some before others are allowed residence." ~ Chris W Metz

Men often become what they believe themselves to be. If I believe I cannot do something, it makes me incapable of doing it. But when I believe I can, then I acquire the ability to do it even if I didn’t have it in the beginning. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

During our reflection in the abyss, we become open to shedding our old beliefs. If we go through life clinging to old beliefs then we can never change our foundation of thought. Without a change in our thought processes, our lives will continue to be the same. Once we have discovered truth and experience nothing but joy, love, compassion and peace, further changes to our thought process becomes unnecessary. So we must acknowledge that holding onto antiquated beliefs will prevent us from achieving this state. If one embarks on a road to enlightenment they must be willing to examine their entire belief system and must also be prepared to alter those beliefs in order to change their experience of life. ~ Chris W Metz, The Road Out Of The Abyss

“Everyone develops a system of thought through life. It becomes so entrenched, we rarely if ever consider other ways of thinking. These repetitive thought processes are responsible for how we perceive the world and our response to given stimuli. This can be thought of with a tree analogy. All of the experiences and beliefs that we have established (i.e. roots,) produce what we see as growth above ground (our behaviours and thought processes.) It is very difficult to think differently when our roots (experience and beliefs) have already established their network in the ground. Only by uplifting or transplanting this metaphorical tree into a new ground environment are we able to change our system of thought. Here there are new things to uncover and new beliefs to establish. This makes it more likely we will make changes to our thought processes and beliefs. Only then can we experience a life that will change with a different system of thought. The fundamental basis of this change results from establishing new beliefs or truths for ourselves. This in turn establishes new ways of thinking thus changing our experience in life. The concept to understand is life is an idea. We live our life based on an idea we have formulated about it. All of the ensuing experiences we have are just reflections of our belief about life.” ~ Chris W Metz, The Road Out Of The Abyss

“Our beliefs and how we react to them are similar to how a blind person might navigate their world in the dark. We learn from repetition, what hurts, where to navigate, expecting what to feel after reaching so far. In many ways this is how we navigating through life with our beliefs. We learn the easiest paths, learn to steer clear of obstacles but admittedly will never know those things that lie in the darkness. We build a familiarity to our world and perceived reality by following the same paths and reacting in the same ways. holding onto the same beliefs we know without any doubt what to expect as we navigate our way. Those beliefs and patterns of behavior, whether they are good or bad, provide a safety net and structure for us. Beliefs allow us to interpret the world with certainty as to why things happen. We find comfort in the repetition of events and our belief in why they are occurring. Thinking in this way we react to life with programmed responses and this predictability brings us comfort.”
~ Chris W Metz, The Road Out Of The Abyss

"Every emotional response we have is based on our belief about something. Our feelings and emotions come about based upon our interactions with situations, places and things and the resulting belief we form about them." ~ Chris W Metz, The Road Out Of The Abyss

“The power of our beliefs can work in either direction to become life affirming or life denying.”
~ Gregg Braden

“Beliefs are the fields in which the seed of our ideas grow.” ~ Chris W Metz

“Beliefs are merely the first interpretations of experience we formulate with an undeveloped mind. Most likely we have forgotten what the experience was or why we interpreted it the way we did.” ~ Chris W Metz

“We will experience everything we think. Every thought we cast into existence, is a cause demanding an effect on some plane, in some manner, in some space of time. Whether those effects come to us immediately, in this life, or another life is inconsequential. Every thought is a cause producing an effect. For this reason i implore you to guard your thoughts carefully.” ~ Chris W Metz

“We can never know the long term effects of any single act. What may appear as immediate and visual, contains a tail that drags far beyond the body of occurrence. Whether the attributes of good or bad are contained within this tail depends largely on the spirit in which the act was carried out.” ~ Chris W Metz

“a life of little is proceeded by giving little, a meager life results from giving meagerly. What we give out in life comes back to us multiplied. give to the world your shyness and it will be shy to you. Give the
world your uncertainty and the world will make you doubt. Give your anger, and hostility will reflect from every face. Level judgment upon others and others in turn shall judge you. Give to the world your love and that love multiplied will rain into your life. Share your compassion and you will in turn be shown compassion. Show the world your gratitude and the world will continue giving more. Share your peace with others and a silent beauty will always surround you. Always give what you wish to receive. Always be conscious of what you are giving.” ~ Chris W Metz

“We must recognize we are part of an intricate web. Our one piece of the web is interconnected to everyone and everything else. Everything we have comes through this web. As we give through this network so shall it return to us somewhere else. What we send out in any direction as willful intent returns to us as effects. What we are giving in the present will return to us through some thread in the future.” ~ Chris W Metz, The Road Out Of The Abyss

Patience and politeness are not the weaknesses of a person... Those are the reflection of the inner strength of that person. ~ Unknown

“At the end of the day and ultimately at the end of my life, what do I myself have but the integrity of the promises I make to myself.” ~ Chris W Metz

“Whenever you desire to have something, you may only possess it momentarily. Only when you decide to be something, does it become a part of you forever.” ~ Chris W Metz

I AM THE DECISIVE ELEMENT

I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather.

I possess tremendous power to make a life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture, or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal.

In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de –escalated, and a person humanized or dehumanized.

If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming. ~ Goethe

“Living in this physical existence we have a strong urge to associate ourselves and what we perceive ourselves to be with the physical things around us…We take on traits of the physical world letting the physical things define who we are…It becomes a trap to associate ourselves with our material surroundings, our physical body or our environment. When we worship the attributes of our physical surroundings, we are idolizing false gods.” ~ Chris W Metz, The Road Out Of The Abyss

"Pretty on the outside will never hide ugly on the inside. Beauty on the inside will always project beauty on the outside." ~ Chris W Metz

“It's what each of us sows, and how, that gives us character and prestige. Seeds of kindness, goodwill, and human understanding, planted in fertile soil, spring up into deathless friendships, big deeds of worth, and a memory that will not soon fade out. We are all sowers of seeds and let us not forget it!” ~ George Matthew Adams

"People give freely what they sense an abundance of within themselves." ~ Chris W Metz

“The truth can never be certain when one speaks poorly of another. The only certain truth is the poorness of character of those who seek to disparage the character of others.” ~ Chris W Metz

Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, And though they are with you yet they belong not to you. You may give them your love but not your thoughts, For they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday. You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth. The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far. Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness; For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable. ~ Kahlil Gibran

"Children are the uncorrupted saviors of a future human existence. Will you encourage them along to their potential, or corrupt them by teaching them to be like you?" ~ Chris W Metz

“As we venture through this physical life, we continually tend to our garden. We plant things that bring us strength, nourishment and joy. We begin by nurturing our relationships that in turn nourish and feed us. We plant the things that make us feel good about ourselves, nourishing those things we are proud of. Lastly, we cultivate the things we wish to look upon with beauty and satisfaction. Each day we are sowing seeds and providing nutrients in the way of thoughts and action, thereby encouraging their growth. As with any garden, weeds are bound to appear sprouting from anger, hatred, judgment, jealousy, fear and guilt. By holding on to these emotions and recalling the events that led to those feelings, we allow the weeds to take root and eventually take over our life. In this metaphorical garden they cannot be pulled out, instead they must be starved by withholding the thoughts and discontinuing the actions that promoted their growth.” ~ Chris W Metz, The Road Out Of The Abyss

"If you do not decide on what you want in life, you will instead spend your life rejecting what you don't want." ~ Chris W Metz

"We are always drawing things into us or pushing things away from us." ~ Chris W Metz

"However you would sum up the world is how you contribute to making it what it is." ~ Chris W Metz

“We are always fixated on what we do not want as opposed to what we do want. This preoccupation of thinking in the negative is what delivers precisely that result.” ~ Chris W Metz

"Imagination, Faith and Will is ultimately all we have, but with it we can create anything we desire." ~ Chris W Metz

“Weeds grow easily, but flowers need care and nurturing to bloom. Weeds will grow in every garden of dreams. rather than tending to these weeds, take the time to nurture the sweetness of the flowers. Over time they will grow abundant and choke out the weeds. In every moment with every new thought, we are planting seeds of beauty and nurturing them or tending to our weeds. In every thought we are planting or nurturing. The plants which do not receive attention or further thought will die. Those that are nurtured, given attention, and brought into the light, will
eventually grow large and bear the fruit of our nurturing. We are always in a state of creating, of watering, and bringing life to
our thoughts.” ~ Chris W Metz, The Road Out Of The Abyss

“We must create in our consciousness from the standpoint of having the reality we want as already done! Wishing and hoping brings more reality of wishing and hoping. It must be a feeling of already done, along with the feelings associated with this state. A sense of gratitude is the foundation of this state. We cannot just say the words and go through the motions, we have to genuinely feel it inside.  By nature, there is no fooling the
law that makes it possible.” ~ Chris W Metz

Somewhere high atop a mountain, eyes can plainly see. The drama of the world and those who struggle needlessly. At any moment, anyone can be, whatsoever they may wish to be. Their future can appear, however they wish to see. Yet toil they do day after day. Is it fear of such power? Or an ignorance of some degree? I could teach you to let everything go. Creating the space, where peace can take hold. In the womb of that space, of uncorrupted imagination life is conceived, giving birth to tomorrow. But first must come a desire to know, and the faith to believe. Without it the drama continues of those that struggle needlessly. ~ Chris W Metz

“Worry Not”
"Worry not about what may or may not come to be. Embrace this moment, find the magic in how perfect life is. Understand through will and power of mind we create the very environment in which we exist. How can any moment of life not be perfect? For it is our ‘perfect’ creation. The beliefs, thoughts and fears we currently hold in consciousness, are the messengers sent forth creating tomorrow. We must search our feelings and use our imagination to discover what we want in life, then guard our thoughts carefully to insure there is no conflict in what we desire." ~ Chris W Metz

"What the mind thinks becomes one's fate. We create our own self fulfilling prophecy." ~ Chris W Metz

"Is it not the realm of ideas, in which we choose, that creates our experience of life?"

“Have the discipline to maintain your inner garden from which all blooms of life spring forth. Be very conscious of the seeds you are planting with your desires, idle thoughts, judgment and fears. they will surely sprout and bring forth experience from the smallest of seeds.” ~ Chris W Metz

"Contained within 'MAYBE' and 'I DON’T KNOW'
exist the seeds of uncertainty which sprout into manifesting life’s fears."
In 'YES' and 'I AM CERTAIN' lies the fertilizer for our desires to grow strong and bear the fruit of our wishes." ~ Chris W Metz

"If you need to know in advance that everything will ‘work out’ before you jump in, you'll never jump into anything. Yet ‘jumping in’ is life's greatest excitement and its greatest adventure. Don't deny yourself that. Just go for it. Trust that life will bring you benefit no matter what happens.” ~ Neale Donald Walsch

“If we believe tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today.” ~Thich Nhat Hanh

“Do not be afraid to fall into the abyss, it is there you will come to know yourself more completely.” ~ Chris W Metz

No solid ground before me, abyss now lies across my path. Good things I see ahead of me, yet I know not how I will cross. It is here I can turn, and not face my fears But the path to this point I have already seen.
So onward I must go, though I fear the unknown. The treasures beyond, glimmer faintly before me. With courage and wisdom, I take these next few steps. The ground it crumbles around my feet, but slowly I walk, my faith I will keep, For life waits on the other side. ~ Chris W Metz

"When you feel that you have reached the end and that you cannot go one step further, when life seems to be drained of all purpose; what a wonderful opportunity to start all over again, to turn over a new page." ~ Eileen Caddy

"Follow humbly wherever and whatever abyss nature leads, or you shall learn nothing." ~ Thomas Henry Huxley

"Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small. A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step." ~ Lao Tzu

"You will never get beyond what you refuse to go into." ~ Chris W Metz

"The moment you become aware of the ego in you, it is strictly speaking no longer the ego, but just an old conditioned mind pattern. Ego implies unawareness. Awareness and ego cannot coexist." ~Eckhart Tolle

The Ego (False Self) vs The Soul (True Self)
Which will you cultivate in yourself?

"The Ego is a very powerful thing and does not take to being rid of easily. It will rationalize its existence having us believe that it is essential to our protection, safety and well-being. It will also have us believe that there is nothing more important than being 'right.' But right and wrong are subjective judgments which the ego lives to decide based on believing it is all important. Love, compassion, gratitude and peace are the only truths, everything else is the judgment and perception of the ego." ~ Chris W. Metz

When ego is lost, limit is lost. You become infinite, kind, beautiful. ~ Yogi Bhajan

Why do we so easily become angry? We do so because we are attached to our view of who we are, to self-importance, to the concept of "I." When the concept of "I” is threatened, “I” very often strikes out in fear, in anger. ~ Unknown