Stop Fixing Yourself — Anthony de Mello (Quotes)

Below are some of the quotes from the book Stop Fixing Yourself by Anthony de Mello:

• “Contrary to what your culture and religion have taught you, nothing—but absolutely nothing of the world—can make you happy. The moment you see that, you will stop moving from one job to another, one friend or lover to another, one place, one spiritual technique, one guru to another. None of these things can give you a single minute of happiness. They can only offer you a temporary thrill, a pleasure, that initially grows in intensity then turns into pain if you lose them and boredom if you keep them.”
• “What makes you happy or unhappy is not the world and the people around you, but the thinking in your head.”
• “Recall the feeling you have when someone praises you, when you are approved, accepted, applauded. Now contrast that with the kind of feeling that arises within you when you look at the sunset or the sunrise—or nature in general—or when you read a book or watch a movie that you thoroughly enjoy. Get the taste of this feeling and contrast it with the first, namely, the one that was generated within you when you were praised. The first type of feeling comes from self-glorification and self-promotion. It is a worldly feeling. The second type comes from self-fulfillment, which is a soul feeling.”
• “… people attempt to gain the world and, in the process, lose their soul.”
• “What you are aware of you are in control of; what you are not aware of is in control of you.”
• “You don’t have to add anything in order to be happy; you’ve got to drop something.”

Thoughts from the book:

• What you resist persists.
• True happiness is uncaused.
• If you judge, you don’t understand. If you understand, you can’t judge.
• There is no point in your life at which you did not have what it takes to be happy.