Lessons for Living: What Only Adversity Can Teach You
To control this demon, you must find a force in your soul that is even stronger than the power of negative thinking. That force is gratefulness. Gratefulness appreciates the immediate experience of reality, replacing negative thoughts with thoughts about what’s really going on.
Phil Stutz • Lessons for Living: What Only Adversity Can Teach You
In a holistic universe, the individual is only part of the system; by himself he can do nothing. Specialness, on the other hand, requires the sense that you “did it yourself.” Being special implies that you are not part of the system, that you can overcome a negative universe on your own. And so the ever-moving, ever-creating spiritual core of the
... See morePhil Stutz • Lessons for Living: What Only Adversity Can Teach You
This inner demon is absolutely determined to keep you from experiencing a fact of reality—everything is always moving.
Phil Stutz • Lessons for Living: What Only Adversity Can Teach You
negative thinking is the expression of an inner adversary, and until you become aware of this adversary, you’ll be powerless to defeat it.
Phil Stutz • Lessons for Living: What Only Adversity Can Teach You
negative thinking represents a force in your consciousness that wants to displace anything healthy. It’s irrational—the thoughts seem real when you’re having them, but when you look back, they are almost always exaggerated or out of touch with reality.
Phil Stutz • Lessons for Living: What Only Adversity Can Teach You
If you take the time to practice it, you’ll see that it is possible to systematically change your mood. Begin by feeling the heavy, demoralized feeling you have when depressed. Focus on it, and tell yourself that you are going to change that feeling into something positive. Imagine that, up above your head, there is a powerful flow of energy, a jet
... See morePhil Stutz • Lessons for Living: What Only Adversity Can Teach You
Your connection to the higher world must be won in a series of small moments. Each time you become demoralized, depressed, or inert, you must counteract it right then.
Phil Stutz • Lessons for Living: What Only Adversity Can Teach You
Once you give up hope that the outer world can regulate your mood, the only alternative is to maintain it yourself, regardless of outer conditions.
Phil Stutz • Lessons for Living: What Only Adversity Can Teach You
Just to say this plainly: human beings can never be made happy by the material world. We are spiritual beings and can be emotionally healthy only when we are in touch with a higher world.