All it takes is a simple choice, a simple decision: no matter what happens, I will create no more pain for myself. I will create no more problems.

It's interesting that stepping out of thought was actually triggered by a thought.

The brain does not create consciousness, but conciousness created the brain, the most complex physical form on earth, for its expression.

Don't wait to be successful at some future point, have a successful relationship with the present moment and be fully present in whatever you are doing. That is success.

People tend to dwell more on negative things than on good things. So the mind then becomes obsessed with negative things, with judgments, guilt and anxiety produced by thoughts about the future and so on.

To me the ego is the habitual and compulsive thought processes that go through everybody's mind continuously. External things like possessions or memories or failures or successes or achievements. Your personal history.

A genuine relationship is one that is not dominated by the ego with its image-making and self-seeking. In a genuine relationship, there is an outward flow of open, alert attention toward the other person in which there is no wanting whatsoever.