The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself

by Michael A. Singer

Eventually you will see that the real cause of problems is not life itself. It’s the commotion the mind makes about life that really causes problems.

True personal growth is about transcending the part of you that is not okay and needs protection.

Your inner growth is completely dependent upon the realization that the only way to find peace and contentment is to stop thinking about yourself.

You feel love until somebody says something you don’t like, and then you give up the love.

You will get to a point in your growth where you understand that if you protect yourself, you will never be free.

Real spiritual growth happens when there is only one of you inside. There’s not a part that’s scared and another part that’s protecting the part that’s scared.

You just let go. It’s simply a matter of taking the risk that you are better off letting go than going with the energy.

You can do one of two things with fear: you can recognize that you have it and work to release it, or you can keep it and try to hide from it.

that which doesn’t disturb you is okay, and that which does disturb you is not.

That which is holding you down can become a powerful force that raises you up.

You are either trying to stop suffering, controlling your environment to avoid suffering, or worrying about suffering in the future.

If we take a snapshot of our inner problems, we will see that each person has what we’ll call the “problem of the day.” This is the thing that is bothering them the most at any given moment. When the current problem isn’t bothering them, then the next one pops up, and when that one isn’t bothering them, the next one pops up.

the bottom line is, all you have to do is stop putting cigarettes in your mouth. If you do this, it’s guaranteed that you will stop smoking. You use the same technique to get out of your psychological mess. You just stop telling your mind that its job is to fix your personal problems. This job has broken the mind and disturbed the entire psyche. It has created fear, anxiety, and neurosis. Your mind has very little control over this world.

If you are doing something to avoid pain, then pain is running your life. All of your thoughts and feelings will be affected by your fears.

you must learn not to be afraid of inner pain and disturbance. As long as you are afraid of the pain, you will try to protect yourself from it.

If you want to be free, simply view inner pain as a temporary shift in your energy flow.

You cannot spend your life avoiding things that are not actually happening, or everything will become negative. All you will end up seeing is how much can potentially go wrong.