Amy L. Burns, CLC Filled with interesting and inspiring thoughts, quotes, and questions, this blog is intended as a sacred space where I explore and reflect on my personal spiritual experiences as they relate to coaching, and share my favorite tools and techniques to assist you in your own journey.

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Friday, December 12, 2008   The Tao of Pooh By the time it came to the edge of the Forest the stream had grown up, so that it was almost a river, and, being grown-up, it did not run and jump and sparkle along as it used to do when it was younger, but moved more slowly. For it knew now where it was going, and it said to itself, "There is no hurry. We shall get there someday." The Tao of Pooh, p 67 - by Benjamin Hoff Labels: Quotes # posted by Amy L. Burns @ 2:18 PM 0 comments Saturday, December 22, 2007   Dare to Have the Life You Want It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare, it is because we do not dare that things are difficult. - Seneca Labels: Quotes # posted by Amy L. Burns @ 2:23 PM 0 comments Wednesday, May 09, 2007   Creativity - Power Thought Card "Every thought I think is creating my future." "The Universe totally supports every thought I choose to think and believe. I have unlimited choices about what I think. I choose balance, harmony, and peace, and I express it in my life." ~ Louise L. Hay Power Thought Cards Labels: Quotes # posted by Amy L. Burns @ 5:09 PM 0 comments Wednesday, March 28, 2007   Conversations with God "Now, having seen the differences between where you are and where you want to be, begin to change--consciously change--your thoughts, words, and actions to match your grandest vision." From Conversations With God by Neale Donald Walsch Page 77 Labels: Quotes # posted by Amy L. Burns @ 1:43 PM 0 comments Friday, February 23, 2007   Acceptance "Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it. Always work with it, not against it. Make it your friend and ally, not your enemy. This will miraculously transform your whole life." Eckhart Tolle The Power of Now Page 29 Labels: Quotes # posted by Amy L. Burns @ 10:39 AM 0 comments Friday, February 24, 2006   What the world needs "Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who are alive." - Gil Bailie What a brilliant and inspiring quote! A client recently found this and passed it along to me. It really rings so true to me and I am reminded of how important it is to keep my eyes focused on the internal rather than the external, knowing that all the joy I find for myself will serve the world magically, creating healing and peace. What makes you come alive? What brings you fulfillment and joy and bliss? Labels: Quotes # posted by Amy L. Burns @ 9:09 AM 0 comments Wednesday, November 30, 2005   Meister Eckhart on self-love "If you love yourself, you love everybody else as you do yourself." Meister Eckhart, as quoted in The Art of Loving, pg 58 Labels: Quotes # posted by Amy L. Burns @ 1:19 PM 0 comments   Erich Fromm, The Art of Loving "Love is the active concern for the life and growth of that which we love. Where this active concern is lacking, there is no love." Erich Fromm, pg 25 "Love is not primarily a relationship to a specific person; it is an attitude, an orientation of character which determines the relatedness of a person to the world as a whole, not toward one "object" of love." pg 43 "Selfishness and self-love, far from being identical, are actually opposites." pg 56 Erich Fromm, The Art of Loving Labels: Quotes # posted by Amy L. Burns @ 1:18 PM 0 comments Sunday, July 10, 2005   Rumi Quote Come out of the circle of time And into the circle of love. ~Rumi Labels: Quotes # posted by Amy L. Burns @ 5:46 PM 0 comments Monday, June 27, 2005   Quotes on Anger and Hate Our anger and annoyance are more detrimental to us than the things themselves which anger or annoy us. ~ Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, translated by Maxwell Staniforth (1964) Forgo your anger for a moment and save yourself a hundred days of trouble. ~ Chinese Proverb Hate is not conquered by hate: hate is conquered by love. This is a law eternal. ~ Buddha, The Dhammapada, translated by Juan Mascaro (1973) Five enemies of peace inhabit with us--avarice, ambition, envy, anger, and pride; if these were to be banished, we should infallibly enjoy perpetual peace. ~ Petrarch Labels: Quotes # posted by Amy L. Burns @ 6:58 AM 0 comments Tuesday, June 21, 2005   Inner Simplicity "Inner simplicity means getting rid of the extraneous things--such as worry and anger and judgment--that get in the way of having peace and tranquility in our lives." ~ Elaine St. James, Inner Simplicity: 100 Ways to Regain Peace and Nourish Your Soul This is only one part of Elaine St. James' "definition" on inner simplicity, but it stands out to me today in particular. Often we spend so much of our time and energy on worrying and being angry about what already happened and can't be changed or hasn't and may not even happen, and judging ourselves and others. On one hand, we should certainly learn lessons and be prepared for the things that come our way. But worry rarely constitutes learning or preparation. Similarly, anger may serve us temporarily to recognize we do not like something, but in the long run it only consumes us. Judgment is part of a cycle of repeatedly punishing ourselves and others, often when we've already been punished quite enough. All three suck the vital energy from us, giving us nothing but stress in return. Consider how much time and energy we can enjoy by releasing worry, anger and judgment! Are you willing to release worry, anger and judgment? Are you willing to experience greater inner simplicity? Only when we are willing to change will we actually find ourselves able to do the work necessary to make it happen. If you are willing to change, over the next week really notice when you start to worry, when you are angry, or when you are judging yourself or others. Ask yourself these questions: How much time and energy do you spend on these activities? What are you getting out of being worried, angry or judgmental? How does it serve you? What does it cost to let go of worry, anger or judgment? What do you gain by releasing worry, anger or judgment? What might you do or feel instead? What if you chose not to worry and to just trust that everything would be perfect? What if you forgave yourself or the other people involved? What if everything that happens has a lesson in it? What would that lesson be? What does it cost to let go of worry, anger or judgment? What do you gain by releasing worry, anger or judgment? Labels: Quotes # posted by Amy L. Burns @ 8:26 AM 0 comments Wednesday, June 08, 2005   opening ourselves up to see possibilities The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend. ~Henri Bergson If we believe we are undeserving of love and joy, we will only be able to see difficulties and misery in everything. If we believe we are deserving, which we are, we will see the magnificence and perfection around us. Each day we have a choice about what to believe. We can begin changing our beliefs and creating self-love right now by speaking the truth to ourselves and stating "I am deserving. I am beautiful. I am talented." Whatever it is we need to change, we must first begin here, with our beliefs about ourselves. When we truly believe we are good and loved and deserving, we will be prepared to see the good and love and wonder around us. Labels: Quotes # posted by Amy L. Burns @ 7:30 PM 0 comments Sunday, May 01, 2005   Live Your Succulent Wild Life! "Choosing succulence is a deliberate act of personal revolution. It means waking up! embracing your true self, studying your patterns and letting out your most alive self We all have one." ~SARK, Juicy Living Cards Labels: Quotes # posted by Amy L. Burns @ 10:59 PM 0 comments Friday, April 22, 2005   Labels "Labels and categories serve us only as long as we remember their limits. Mountains are alike in that they all share the quality of "mountainhood," but wind, water, earth movement, and time sculpt each individual mountain so that no two are exactly alike. Just so, a variety of influences shape our own lives... factors, such as gender, culture, role models, genetic heritage, parents and childhood history, body type, appearance, values, beliefs, and interests, influence [each person's] life path in different ways." Dan Millman, The Life You Were Born To Live: A Guide to Finding Your Life Purpose Labels: Quotes # posted by Amy L. Burns @ 8:28 AM 0 comments Tuesday, December 07, 2004   Anais Nin Quote There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom. Anais Nin Labels: Quotes # posted by Amy L. Burns @ 8:29 AM 0 comments   Charles Dubois Quote The important thing is this: To be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become. Charles Dubois Labels: Quotes # posted by Amy L. Burns @ 7:22 AM 0 comments Monday, November 01, 2004   Hodge-Podge Dear Beams of Radiant Light, Is it just me or has it been a stressful couple months??? Autumn always reminds me of the cycle of life, of death and rebirth, endings and beginnings. One of my favorite quotes illustrates of the beauty and necessity of this cycle. Unless the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it cannot grow. While there are places in our life when we feel small or even great loss, sorrow and defeat, it can help us to be reminded that the end is also the beginning. We cannot have beginnings without endings, nor endings without beginnings. Lets do our best to radiate love out into the world so our national and world leaders can soak some of it up and maybe make some better choices over the next few years. And with this, I offer up a hodge-podge of thoughts for the journey ahead. With shimmering love and gentle hugs, Amy If you have love in your life it can make up for a great many things you lack. If you don't have it, no matter what else there is, it's not enough. ~Ann Landers Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it. ~Rumi To Release the Past, We Must Be Willing to Forgive We need to choose to release the past and forgive everyone, ourselves included. We may not know how to forgive, and we may not want to forgive, be the very fact that we say we are willing to forgive begins the healing process. It is imperative for our own healing that “we” release the past and forgive everyone. From: You Can Heal Your Life by Louise L. Hay Love and kindness are never wasted. They always make a difference. They bless the one who receives them, and they bless you, the giver. ~Barbara De Angelis Where love rules, there is no will to power; and where power predominates, there love is lacking. The one is the shadow of the other. ~Carl Jung Labels: Quotes # posted by Amy L. Burns @ 8:04 AM 0 comments Wednesday, September 01, 2004   M. Scott Peck Quote The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers. M. Scott Peck Labels: Quotes # posted by Amy L. Burns @ 6:02 AM 0 comments Wednesday, July 07, 2004   William Shakespeare Quote “We know what we are, but know not what we may be.” William Shakespeare Labels: Quotes # posted by Amy L. Burns @ 7:57 PM 0 comments Thursday, July 01, 2004   Gloria Steinem Quote “If the shoe doesn't fit, must we change the foot?” Gloria Steinem Labels: Quotes # posted by Amy L. Burns @ 9:28 AM 0 comments Saturday, May 01, 2004   Dark Parts Quote “Welcome the dark parts of love and the deep unknown layers. Let them speak too.” Sark, 2004 Page a Day Calendar Labels: Quotes # posted by Amy L. Burns @ 7:20 AM 0 comments Thursday, April 01, 2004   Prosperity Quote "All of our prosperity lies in the present no matter what it contains! Our attempts to live for, or in, the future set us up for scarcity. We are continually chasing something we don't yet have." Sark, 2004 Page a Day Calendar Labels: Quotes # posted by Amy L. Burns @ 9:30 AM 0 comments Monday, March 01, 2004   The Road Less Traveled "Once we truly know that life is difficult-once we truly understand and accept it-then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, it no longer matters." - M. Scott Peck, M.D. The Road Less Traveled Labels: Quotes # posted by Amy L. Burns @ 9:04 AM 0 comments Sunday, February 01, 2004   Harmony "All my relationships are harmonious. When we create harmony in our minds and hearts, we will find it in our lives. The inner creates the outer. Always." ~Louse L. Hay Power Thought Cards Labels: Quotes # posted by Amy L. Burns @ 9:53 AM 0 comments   Speak love "One of the best ways to increase our sense of being enough is to change what we tell ourselves. How do you talk to your self? Is it kind, supportive and nourishing? Or is it critical, berating and diminishing?" SARK 2004 Page a Day Calendar Labels: Quotes # posted by Amy L. Burns @ 9:23 AM 0 comments