God is incapable of moving away from you.  When you do not feel
the presence, it is because you have moved away.  You have given
your power to some earthly authority.  You have left the place of
the indwelling God in search of something special in the world. 
That search always comes up empty, but that doesn’t mean that you won’t
keep trying to find the answer somewhere outside of yourself. If you
have a teacher who empowers you, I am happy.  It does not matter
to me if that teacher is a Buddhist or a Jew, a Christian or a Moslem,
a shaman or a businessman.  If you are learning to trust yourself,
if you are becoming more open in your mind and your heart, then I am
happy for you.  It does not matter what specific path you are on,
what symbols you believe in, or what scrolls you consider sacred. I
look to the fruit of your beliefs to see if you are stepping into your
divinity or giving your power away to someone else.
– Paul Ferrini

You are part of a great Unity which encompasses everything. Just as you
are intimately intertwined with Spirit, so you are unified with each
person; no separation exists between the Whole and any of its parts.
Loving relationships are a matter of expressing the spirit of God which
is at the center of your being. If harmony reigns supreme in God, then
harmony must be paramount in you and all of your relationships.
– Ernest Holmes

Remember that fear always lurks behind perfectionism.
– Anon.

We practice compassion through acts of forgiveness, releasing
resentment, anger and hurt. We understand forgiveness when we realize
that every act is either an expression of love or a call for love.
– Mary Manin Morrissey

The panhandler on the busy street corner feels forsaken. The elderly
woman whose phone doesn’t ring stares through a gap in her drawn drapes
and wonders if she is forgotten. And awaiting the prayed-for visit from
a potential foster parent, the child is fearfully certain he won’t be
acceptable. The tragedy is that so few of us have experienced whole and
unconditional love from the significant people in our lives. So few of
us are certain of our value in the lives of others. For parents and
teachers we performed to earn their favor. From friends we expected
acceptance, yet sometimes we bought it. And because we haven’t known
the pleasure of unconditional love but have been perpetually in search
of it, we’ve not felt adequate to offer it to others. It’s difficult to
give away what we fear we don’t have; yet, paradoxically, that’s the
key to our salvation. As we give others our love, we’ll likewise
experience a greater measure of it. And it need not come from outside.
It will, instead, well up from within. We each have the power of
personal salvation. All we must do is love.
– Karen Casey, Worthy of Love

It is a simple procedure to calculate the number of seeds in an apple.
But who among us can ever say how many apples are in a seed?
– Wayne Dyer, Everyday Wisdom

A friend is one who is free to agree or disagree. A friend will speak
to you truthfully. She may or may not perceive the situation
accurately, but she is not afraid to tell you what she thinks. A friend
speaks her truth and then reminds you that you are free to make you own
choice. This is love in action. A friend loves you equally whether she
is saying yes or no. She is willing to share her experience, but she
doesn’t try to impose her opinion on you. You can’t be a friend
if  you are not willing to tell the truth. But honesty alone is
not enough. Honesty and humility must go hand in hand. Your humility
says to your brother “This is the way that I see it. I may be right or
I may be wrong. How do you see it? After all, you are the one who must
make the choice.”
– Paul Ferrini, Love Without Conditions