All quotes from Danielle's book
You think you need
an architect, but you are already a temple.
Is everything you're
doing to be well and liberated really helping you to be well and
liberated? Because if liberation is a
chore, then you aren't really free, are
you?
You can't seek
approval on your way to sovereignty.
Underneath so much
of our self-helping can be a lot of self-loathing. We create new obsessions to replace our old
addictions.
Lots of believed
criticism makes for lots of effort to improve.
Transformation
begins with the radical acceptance of what is.
Psychologist John
Welwood coined a fabulous term: spiritual bypassing. He defines it as: "The use of spiritual
practices and beliefs to avoid dealing with our painful feelings, unresolved
wounds, and developmental needs."
I need a Truth I can
work with. I want a spirituality that I can apply to my everyday, ambitions,
very private, somewhat public, sweet, little, big, messy, gorgeous, desirous,
meaningful, normal existence. I need a "presence"
that takes my entire life into consideration.
Our fulfillment
stems from our motives. It's not how we
seek spiritual growth, it's why we seek it.
Thank the lies for
showing you the truth.
Oppressors use
confusion to create reliance.
We're becoming
experts at being experts in things we're not really experts in. Shallow knowledge, limited experience. To be clear, we're living in the Age of
Information, not the age of wisdom.
Wisdom comes from lived and earned experience.
No questioning = no
growth. Your curiosity is the
bloodstream of your own spirituality.
Curiosity carries nourishment to your Faith -- the heart of your spirit. The more curious you are about how life
works, the more present you will be in your life.
Questioning your
teachers is not a betrayal of them, or your God, or guru, or your favorite
seer. It is not an act of cynicism or
mistrust. It's self-respecting optimism. It's a belief in your right to do
what's best for you and Faith that you'll figure out what that is.
Somehow we got the
idea that being whole is about being perfectly consistent.… We can't put parts
of ourselves aside in the thinking it will make us more wholesome.
If Jesus ran a
branding campaign these days, his slogan would be: That's not what I meant by
that.
If you want to take
your life to the next level, you need backup from multiple perspectives and
traditions. You're complex. And your support system needs to be as
multi-faceted, robust, and weird as you are.
There isn't one
medicine that alone will cure your ills. Not a single theory exists that
explains everything, no sage who is always right. We're innovating how we heal,
and in doing so we're creating the world in which we live.
Love yourself like
it's your job.
You will experience
sharp and surprising pangs of self-hatred on your way to self-respect.
Loving yourself
isn't a luxury or a gift that confident people inherit at birth. Love is the journey and the destination. It's how you discern what stays and what goes
in your life.
The danger in
wanting to uplift our consciousness is that we might neglect human
rootedness. Being multidimensional and
yoga-fied seems much cooler than, say, working on your conflict resolution
skills in the workplace.
"All is
forgiven" includes you.
Forgiveness is
usually an organic and utterly inefficient process. You can't leap from hurt to clarity, or from
anger to absolution. You have to walk
there, one revelatory, resentful, intentional step at a time.
The heart runs on
its own clock, untethered from calendar days or years.
You can only help
when you can help. And maybe you can't help right now. Believing in an abundant Universe doesn't
mean that you as an individual have an endless supply of energy to give away.
Metaphysical skill
does not guarantee spiritual integrity.
Your breakthroughs
have more to do with your own power than that of the expert or guru.
The sacred
flourishes with respect.
Your "no"
can be as life-affirming as your "yes".
Love meets you where
you're at. No coercion. No judgments.
Mudras jumpstart
electromagnetic currents within the body, which can alter the way your system
functions. They are used for
manifesting, clarity, and sometimes for healing physical ailments.
Identify where you
are already meeting with Spirit in your life.
Even with steady
devotion to your growth, your practices will ebb and flow. Some days you're going to be riding high,
dancing to merge with Shiva himself, or fasting to feel the pulse of the higher
realms. Other days, you're just doing
what it takes not to feel like shit.
If harmony at any
cost is revered as the sole spiritual aim, then discernment is often
unwelcome. But if Truth is the
aspiration, then discernment is a heroine.
Ask your truth what
it sees.
It's not so much
about attainment -- it's about attunement with your heart and Soul.
We're not actually
chasing the goal; we're chasing how we want to feel when we reach it.
Joy is what happens
when you make contact with your Soul.
Follow the joy, it's
your Soul's reflection.
If you want to
increase your joy, deepen your devotion to knowing the Truth. The Truth of who you are.
