We must let our day, our week, our life come to us, rather than ceaselessly clawing to get the life we want. Instead of focusing on what hasn’t been done for us, we must look more gently on the particular circumstances we find ourselves in at the moment and concentrate on experiencing stillness and peace where we are.
— Hugh Prather, The Little Book of Letting Go, p. 209
“You cannot have a positive life and a negative mind.”
— Joyce Meyer, Battlefield of the Mind, p. 27
“It’s okay to be in a relationship, but it’s also okay to not be in a relationship. Find friends to love, be loved by, and who think we are worthwhile. Love ourselves and know we are worthwhile. Use our time alone as a breather. Let go. Learn the lessons we are to be learning. Grow. Develop. Work on ourselves, so when love comes along, it enhances a full and interesting life. Love shouldn’t be the concern of our whole life or an escape from an unpleasant life. Strive toward goals. Have fun. Trust God and His timing. He cares and knows about all our needs and wants.”
— Melody Beattie, Codependent No More, p. 213-214
“God is all right. Therefore, why should we mind standing in the dark for a minute outside his window? Of course we miss the inness. But there is a bliss of its own in waiting. What if the rain be falling, and the wind blowing? What if we stand alone, or, more painful still, have some dear one beside us, sharing our outness? What even if the window be not shining because of the curtains of impenetrable good drawn across it? Let us think to ourselves, or say to our friend, ‘God is. Jesus is not dead. Nothing can be going wrong, however it may look to our hearts that are unfinished in childness.’
“Let us say to the Lord, ‘Jesus areyou loving the Father in there? Then we out here will do his will, patiently waiting till he open the door. We shall not mind the wind or the rain much’…
“In a word, let us be at peace, because peace is at the heart of things–peace and utter satisfaction between the Father and the Son — in which peace they call us to share, in which peace they promise that at length, when they have their good way with us, we shall share.”
— George MacDonald, Your Life in Christ, p. 51
“You can’t control other egos and events, so let go of control. You can only control your focus. So focus on what unites, comforts, and stills your mind.”
— Hugh Prather, The Little Book of Letting Go, p. 116
“Although we can’t control even the tiniest ego or smallest event, we can control our decision to control. We can let go and be free, or we can fight useless battles. But we can’t do both. Either our attention is on form or content, on appearance or substance. By letting go of our desire to dominate outcomes, we don’t sacrifice anything real, but we do open our heart and mind to the experience of wholeness.”
— Hugh Prather, The Little Book of Letting Go, p. 112-113
“As we develop our lives, set our goals, and find things to do that interest us, peace will become comfortable–more comfortable than chaos.”
Melody Beattie, Codependent No More, p. 192
“Some things are simple, and here’s one of them: You can either relax and let go of your life, in which case you will know peace. Or you can try to control your life, in which case you will know war.”
— Hugh Prather, The Little Book of Letting Go, p. 110
“As the primary indicator of our ‘true feelings,’ emotions have become our new inner self, taking the place once occupied by the soul, the spirit, or the conscience. Now to question our anger, infatuation, sadness, and many other emotions is to question what is most sacred about us. It not only seems dishonest to let go of misery; it seems like a betrayal of who we really are.
“This redefinition of our core has thrown us deeper into chaos, especially since we have also redefined integrity, which used to mean being faithful to our core….
“Look at the dilemma we have gotten ourselves into by deciding that our emotions are our truest self. How can we be ourself if our self is changing every few minutes, as emotions invariably do? Not only are feelings never constant, we have layers of feelings heading in different directions….
“Emotions are like layers of files seen on a computer screen. The one we notice is merely the one we have clicked on. Even that analogy is an oversimplification because the contents of the files have lives of their own and the mouse likes to do a little extra browsing on its own. The bottom line is that if you make your emotions your inner self, you have chaos at your core.
“There is a place within us where we can touch the changeless and beautiful, a place where our real self is experienced in peace. This self does not have to be periodically vented, defragmented, or even defined. In gentleness and ease it is clearly seen, and everything about it is familiar — because this self is consistently whole.”
— Hugh Prather, The Little Book of Letting Go, p. 90-91
“Happiness is that simple. Once you discover what the Lord wants you to do, and you start doing it, you will achieve happiness….
“If God has told you to stand for marriage restoration, you will not be happy doing anything else.”
– Robert E. Steinkamp, The Prodigal’s Pen, p. 59