Friday Afternoon Quotes

“When we were young, we were programmed to unhappiness. They taught us that in order to be happy you need money, success, a beautiful or handsome partner in life, a good job, friendship, spirituality, God - you name it. Unless you get these things, you’re not going to be happy, we were told. Now, that is what I call an attachment. An attachment is a belief that without something you are not going to be happy. Once you get convinced of that - and it gets into our subconscious, it gets stamped into the roots of our being - you are finished. “How could I be happy unless I have good health?” you say. But I ‘II tell you something. I have met people dying of cancer who were happy. But how could they be happy if they knew they were going to die? But they were. “How could I be happy if I don’t have money?” One person has a million dollars in the bank, and he feels insecure; the other person has practically no money, but he doesn’t seem to feel any insecurity at all. He was programmed differently, that’s all. Useless to exhort the first person about what to do; he needs understanding. Exhortations are of no great help. You need to understand that you’ve been programmed; it’s a false belief. See it as false, see it as a fantasy.”

--Anthony De Mello

“All men should strive to learn before they die, what they are running from, and to, and why.”

-- James Thurber