My Notes

• There is no way to know which future course is best, because there is no way to foresee all those my decisions will affect and how it will affect them, and to attempt to force because there is no way to foresee all those my decisions will affect and how it will affect them, and to attempt to force my mind to reach certainity only assures that it will not. Yes its always possible to know what I believe would be best, 'coz belief is found in the present. My task, therefore, is not to "see my way through", but merely to discover my deepest preferences.
• I am noticing that when I am bored I think I am tired of my surroundings but I am really tired of my thoughts.It's trite, repetitious, unobserved thinking that is providing the discontent. Adopting a quiet awareness, a kind of listening attitude, usually freshens my mind and brings the situation I am into life.
• Dislike is a function of need. I want something from you that you don't provide and so I dislike that condition and call you bad. The squirrel who lives behind our cabin becomes furious whenever I empty the garbage. I don't need his approval and his anger amuses me. But if he were my pet and I needed his cooperation then this same anger would irritate me. I don't dislike a stone unless it's in my path.
• If I feel of something from you then I hear your words only as yes, no, maybe, or irritatingly off the subject. I can't appreciate you as you are and can't begin to see the world as you see it.
• I don't want to listen to just what you say, I want to feel what you mean.
• I am afraid of your silence, 'coz of what it could mean. Perhaps it means you are getting bored or losing interest or making up your own mind about me without my guidance. I believe that as long as I kept you thinking I can know what you're thinking.
  But silence can also mean confidence. And mutual respect. Silence can mean live and let live freely, the appreciation that I am I and You are You. Words can mean that I want to make you into a friend and silence can mean that I accept your already being one.
• If I made you aware of all that I feel, your reaction might give me much needed information about myself or at last about us!
• An argument is always about what has been made more important than the relationship.
• I want to support my friends-even in their mistakes. I must be clear, however, it is the friend and not the mistake I am supporting.
• The heart loves, but moods have no loyality. Moods should be heard but never danced to.
• "All I want to is to be loved." - Wanting to be loved, to be lovable, is not really a desire for how I want to be, but for how I want others to be.
• By giving what I want I realize that I have what I thought I lacked before.
• In order to see I have to be willing to be seen.
• If a man takes off his sunglasses I can hear him better.
• As long as I am giving you things(even "love"), I don't have to notice you.
• I learn most about myself by observing myself in relation to others. When I examine myself by myself I am actually examining the result of a previous encounter.
• The key to motivation is to look at how far I have come rather than how far I have to go.
• Boredom or discontent is useful to me when I acknowledge it and see clearly my assumption that there is something else I would rather be doing. In this way boredom can act as an invitation to freedom by opening me to new options and thoughts. For example: If I can't change the activity, Can I look at it more honestly?
• Today I don't want to live for , I want to live.
  Now that I know I am no wiser than anyone else, does this wisdom make me wiser?.