Embrace suffering, and you transform your relationship with what causes you to suffer, as well as your relationship with suffering itself.
AdyashantiRead
If you tell yourself a sad story, the body reacts to that. And if you tell yourself a self-aggrandizing story, the body feels puffed up, confident. But when you realize it’s all stories, there can be a vast waking up out of the mind, out of the dream. You don’t awaken, what has eternally been awake realizes itself. That which is eternally awake is what you are.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Our thoughts shape our reality, and recognizing this can lead to a greater understanding of our true selves.
This quote emphasizes the power of narratives we create within our minds and how they influence our emotions and physical state. Adyashanti suggests that by recognizing our stories as mere constructs, we can awaken to a deeper reality of existence, where our true nature, which is always aware, can be realized and understood beyond the confines of our thoughts and feelings.
Themes
StoriesAwarenessMindSelfReality
In practice
Example use cases
During a mindfulness retreat, this quote can be used to encourage participants to examine their personal narratives.
More from Adyashanti
All quotes →If we do not live and manifest in our lives what we realize in our deepest moments of revelation, then we are living a split life.
AdyashantiRead
Awareness isn’t something we own; awareness isn’t something we possess. Awareness is actually what we are.
AdyashantiRead
The willingness to not bypass illusion is very important. We come to nirvana by way of samsara. We come to see the true nature of things by seeing through the illusory nature of things. We don't come to nirvana by avoiding samsara. We don't come to clarity by avoiding confusion.
AdyashantiRead
Our illusions-the beliefs we hold on to-are the very doorways to our freedom. We simply have to enter through them without grasping or pushing away. We must not believe them, but we must not run away from them either. We need to see each moment of apparent bondage as an invitation to freedom. Then it becomes an act of love, an act of compassion, to stop running away.
AdyashantiRead
Let go of all ideas and images in your mind, they come and go and aren’t even generated by you. So why pay so much attention to your imagination when reality is for the realizing right now?
AdyashantiRead
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