User Profile

What it means to live spiritually is to not participate in this struggle. It means that the events that happen in the moment belong to the moment. They don't belong to you. They have nothing to do with you. You must stop defining yourself in relationship to them, and just let them come and go. Don't allow events to leave impressions inside of you. If you find yourself thinking about them later on, just let go. If an event happens that doesn't fit your conceptual model, and you see yourself struggling and rationalizing to make it fit, just notice what you're doing. An event in the universe didn't match your model and it's causing disturbance inside of you. If you will simply notice this, you will find that it is actually breaking up your model. You'll get to the point where you like this because you don't want to keep your model. You'll define this as good because you are no longer willing to put any energy into building and solidifying your faÇade. Instead, you will actually permit the things that disturb your model to act as the dynamite to break it up and free you. This is what it means to live spiritually.

— The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer, Michael A. Singer (Page 126)

So there are two ways you can live: you can devote your life to staying in your comfort zone, or you can work on your freedom. In other words, you can devote your whole life to the process of making sure everything fits within your limited model, or you can devote your life to freeing yourself from the limits of your model.

— The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer, Michael A. Singer (Page 113)

You have it all figured out. You know how everything is supposed to be, even the future. Your views, your opinions, your preferences, your concepts, your goals, and your beliefs are all ways of bringing the infinite universe down to the finite where you can feel a sense of control. Since the analytical mind cannot handle the infinite, you created an alternate reality of finite thoughts that can remain fixed within your mind. You have taken the whole, broken it into pieces, and selected a handful of these pieces to be put together in a certain way within your mind. This mental model has become your reality. You must now struggle day and night to make the world fit your model, and you label everything that doesn't fit as wrong, bad, or unfair. If anything happens that challenges how you view things, you fight. You defend. You rationalize. You get frustrated and angry over simple little things. This is the result of being unable to fit what's actually happening into your model of reality. If you want to go beyond your model, you have to take the risk of not believing in it. If your mental model is bothering you, it's because it doesn't incorporate reality. Your choice is to either resist reality or go beyond the limits of your model.

— The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer, Michael A. Singer (Page 111)

True freedom is very close; it's just on the other side of your walls. Enlightenment is a very special thing. But in truth, one should not focus on it. Focus, instead, on the walls of your own making that are blocking the light. Of what purpose is it to build walls that block the light and then strive for enlightenment? You can get out simply by letting everyday life take down the walls you hold around yourself. You simply don't participate in supporting, maintaining, and defending your fortress. Imagine your house of thoughts standing in the middle of an ocean of light from a trillion stars. Imagine your awareness trapped inside the darkness of that house, struggling daily to live off the artificial light of your limited experiences. Now imagine the walls crumbling down, and the effortless release of consciousness expanding into the brilliance of what is and always was. Now give that experience a name enlightenment.

— The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer, Michael A. Singer (Page 110)

You must realize that when you defend yourself, you are really defending your walls. There is nothing else to defend in there. There is just your awareness of being and the limited house you built to live in. What you are defending is the house you built to protect yourself. You are hiding inside. If something happens to challenge the walls of your psyche, you get highly defensive. You have built a self-concept, moved inside, and now you defend that home with all you have.

— The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer, Michael A. Singer (Page 109)

Every time you get into your car, as you're settling into the seat, just stop. Take a moment to remember that you're spinning on a planet in the middle of empty space. Then remind yourself that you're not going to get involved in your own melodrama. In other words, let go of what is going on right then, and remind yourself that you don't want to play the mind game. Then, before you get out of your car, do the same thing. And if you really want to stay centered, you can also do this before you pick up the phone or open a door. You don't have to change anything. Just be there, noticing that you notice. It's like taking inventory. Just check out what's going on- heart, mind, shoulders, etc. Set up trigger points in everyday life that help you remember who you are and what's going on inside. These practices create moments of centered consciousness. Eventually, you will have persistently centered consciousness. Persistently centered consciousness is the seat of Self. In this state, you are always conscious of being conscious. There is never a time when you're not totally aware. There is no effort. There is no doing anything. You're just there, aware that thoughts and emotions are being created around you, while the world unfolds before your senses.

— The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer, Michael A. Singer (Page 92)

You are walking along and you see a friend. You say hello to them but they just keep walking by. You don't know if they didn't hear you or if they actually ignored you. You aren't sure if they're mad at you or what's going on. Your mind starts going a mile a minute. Good time for a reality check! There are billions of people on this planet, and one of them didn't say hello to you. Are you saying that you can't handle that? Is that reasonable? Use these little things that happen in daily life to free yourself. In the above example, you simply choose not to get involved in the psyche. Does that mean that you stop your mind from going around in circles trying to figure out what's going on? No. It simply means that you are ready, willing, and able to watch your mind create its little melodrama. Watch all of its noise about how hurt you are, and how could anybody do that. Watch the mind try to figure out what to do about it. Just marvel at the fact that all of this is going on inside simply because someone didn't say hello to you. It's truly unbelievable. Just watch the mind talk, and keep relaxing and releasing. Fall behind the noise.

— The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer, Michael A. Singer (Page 91)

The truth is, everything will be okay as soon as you are okay with everything. And that's the only time everything will be okay.

— The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer, Michael A. Singer (Page 90)

if you feel loneliness and insufficiency within your heart, it's not because you haven't found a special relationship. That did not cause the problem. That relationship is your attempt to solve the problem. All you're doing is trying to see if a relationship will appease your inner disturbance. If it doesn't, you'll try something else. The fact is, however, external changes are not going to solve your problem because they don't address the root of your problem. The root problem is that you don't feel whole and complete within yourself. If you don't identify the root properly, you will seek someone or something to cover it up. You will hide behind finances, people, fame, and adoration. If you try to find the perfect person to love and adore you, and you manage to succeed, then you have actually failed. You did not solve your problem. All you did was involve that person in your problem. That is why people have so much trouble with relationships. You began with a problem inside yourself, and you tried to solve it by getting involved with somebody else. That relationship will have problems because your problems are what caused the relationship. It is all so easy to see once you step back and dare to look at it honestly.

— The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer, Michael A. Singer (Page 87)

What you'll see is that your mind is always telling you that you have to change something outside in order to solve your inner problems. But if you are wise, you won't play this game. You'll realize that the advice your mind is giving you is psychologically damaged advice. Your mind's thoughts are disturbed by its fears. Of all the advice in the world that you do not want to listen to, it is the advice of a disturbed mind. Your mind actually misleads you. Suppose it tells you, "If I could just get that promotion, then I'd be fine. I'd feel good about myself, and I could get my life back together." Have you found that to be true? After you get the promotion, does that end all your insecurities and leave you financially satisfied for the rest of your life? Of course not. All that happens is that the next problem comes to the surface.

— The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer, Michael A. Singer (Page 86)

When you're lonely, you find yourself pondering what to do about your loneliness. What is it that you can say or do in order to not feel so lonely? Notice that you aren't asking how to get rid of the problem; you're asking how to protect yourself from feeling it.

— The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer, Michael A. Singer (Page 79)

If you truly want to grow spiritually, you'll realize that keeping your stuff is keeping you trapped. Eventually you'll want out, at any cost. You will then realize that life is actually trying to help you. Life is surrounding you with people and situations that stimulate growth. You don't have to decide who's right or wrong. You don't have to worry about other people's issues. You only have to be willing to open your heart in the face of anything and everything, and permit the purification process to take place. When you do this, the first thing you'll see is that situations will unfold that hit your stuff. But, in truth, that's exactly what has been happening your entire life. The only difference is that now you see it as a good thing because it's an opportunity to let go.

— The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer, Michael A. Singer (Page 69)

As you grow spiritually, you will realize that your attempts to protect yourself from your problems actually create more problems. If you attempt to arrange people, places, and things so they don't disturb you, it will begin to feel like life is against you. You'll feel that life is a struggle and that every day is heavy because you have to control and fight with everything. There will be competition, jealousy, and fear. You will feel that anyone, at any moment, could cause you disturbance. All they have to do is say or do one thing, and the next thing you know there's disturbance inside of you. That makes life a threat. That's why you have to worry so much. That's why you have all these dialogues going on inside your mind. You're either trying to figure out how to keep things from happening, or you're trying to figure out what to do because they did happen. You are fighting with creation, and that's what makes creation itself the most frightening thing in your life. The alternative is to decide not to fight with life. You realize and accept that life is not under your control. Life is continuously changing, and if you're trying to control it, you'll never be able to fully live it. Instead of living life, you'll be afraid of life.

— The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer, Michael A. Singer (Page 68)

If you want to be free, then every time you feel any change in the energy flow, relax behind it. Don't fight with it, don't try to change it, and don't judge it. Don't say, "Oh, I can't believe I'm still feeling this. I promised myself I wouldn't think about that car anymore." Don't do that; you'll just end up going with the guilt thoughts instead of the car thoughts. You have to let them all go.

— The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer, Michael A. Singer (Page 62)

Ultimately, if you protect yourself perfectly, you will never grow. All your habits and idiosyncrasies will stay the same. Life becomes stagnant when people protect their stored issues. People say things like, "You know we don't talk about that subject around your father." There are all these rules about things that are not supposed to happen outside because they could cause disturbance inside. Living like this allows for very little spontaneous joy, enthusiasm, and excitement for life. Most people just go from day to day protecting themselves and making sure nothing goes too wrong. At the end of the day, when someone asks, "How was your day?" a normal response is, "Not too bad," or "I'll survive." What is that telling you about their view of life? They see life as a threat. A good day means you made it through without getting hurt. The longer you live like this, the more closed you become.

— The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer, Michael A. Singer (Page 58)