“Your inner growth is completely dependent upon the realization that the only way to find peace and contentment is to stop thinking about yourself.”~ Michael Singer, The Untethered Soul
Michael Singer
Whether you are seeking to deepen your spiritual practice, overcome personal challenges, or embrace the present moment with love and acceptance, Michael Singer’s teachings offer a roadmap to doing just that.
His words are an invitation to look within and unlock the true potential that lies dormant in each and every one of us. And it is my hope that these transformative lessons will inspire you to embrace the fullness of life, and cultivate a deeper connection with yourself and the world around you.
41 Life-Changing Lessons to Learn from Michael Singer
1. Freedom from problems comes when you free yourself from the part of you that has so many problems.
“You’ll never be free of problems until you are free from the part within that has so many problems.”~ Michael Singer
2. You are not the voice of the mind, you are the one who hears it.
“There is nothing more important to true growth than realizing that you are not the voice of the mind – you are the one who hears it.”
3. Only you can take inner freedom away from yourself, or give it to yourself. Nobody else can.~ Michael Singer
4. “The real cause of the problem is not life itself.”
“Eventually you will see that the real cause of problem is not life itself. It’s the commotion the mind makes about life that really causes the problems.”~ Michael Singer
5. No matter what your mind says about it, life will unfold in accordance with forces outside your control.
“The truth is that most of life will unfold in accordance with forces far outside your control, regardless of what your mind says about it”
6. Stop thinking about yourself and you will find peace and contentment.
“Your inner growth is completely dependent upon the realization that the only way to find peace and contentment is to stop thinking about yourself.”~ Michael Singer
7. “If experience is the best teacher, there’s nothing that comes close to the experience of life.”
8. Inner freedom comes when you objectively watch your problems, instead of being lost in them.
“To attain true inner freedom, you must be able to objectively watch your problems instead of being lost in them… Once you’ve made the commitment to free yourself of the scared person inside, you will notice that there is a clear decision point at which your growth takes place.”~ Michael Singer
9. Life is still going to happen, no matter how much you think about it.
“Billions of things are going on in this world. You can think about it all you want, but life is still going to keep on happening.”
10. When you try to avoid pain, that just holds the potential for the pain you are avoiding.
“Every time you do something in the name of avoiding pain, that something becomes a link that holds the potential for the pain you are avoiding… Your attempt to avoid this pain has created layers upon layers of sensitivities that are all linked to the hidden pain.”~ Michael Singer
11. Stop trying to get special experiences from life. When you do so, you actual experience life.
“You have to understand that it is your attempt to get special experiences from life that makes you miss the actual experience of life.”
12. “The mind is a place where the soul goes to hide from the heart.”~ Michael Singer
13. You center more and more on the spiritual part of your being, not by reaching for the Spirit, but by letting go of the rest.
“You naturally begin to center more and more on the spiritual part of your being. You do this not by reaching for the Spirit, but by letting go of the rest.”
14. “Only you can take inner freedom away from yourself, or give it to yourself. Nobody else can.”~ Michael Singer
15. “Ultimately, if you protect yourself perfectly, you will never grow.”~ Michael Singer
16. Stress only happens when you resist life’s events.
“Stress only happens when you resist life’s events… If you have no preference, if the only thing you want is to remain centered, then life unfolds while you simply feel for the center.”
17. “Do not let anything that happens in life be important enough that you’re willing to close your heart over it.”
18. Pain is just a temporary shift in your energy flow.
“To be free, simply view pain as a temporary shift in your energy flow… If you relax when the pain comes up inside your heart, and actually dare to face it, it will pass.”~ Michael Singer
19. Spirituality is an infinite journey based upon going beyond yourself every minute of every day for the rest of your life.
“Spirituality is the commitment to go beyond, no matter what it takes. It’s an infinite journey based upon going beyond yourself every minute of every day for the rest of your life. If you’re truly going beyond, you are always at your limits. You’re never back in the comfort zone. A spiritual being feels as though they are always against that edge, and they are constantly being pushed through it.”
20. Letting go of yourself is the simplest way to get closer to others.
“If you’re not so busy judging and resisting people based upon what is blocked inside of you, you will find that they are much easier to get along with—and so are you. Letting go of yourself is the simplest way to get closer to others.”~ Michael Singer
21. Eyes that see only beauty and total perfection in your beloved are God’s eyes looking down through you.
“If, for even one moment, you can look at someone with the eyes of true love, you’ll know those eyes are not yours. Your eyes could never look with that amount of love. Your eyes could never be that unconditional. Your eyes could never, even in a million years, see only beauty and total perfection in your beloved. Those are the eyes of God looking down through you.”
22. “If you truly love someone, your love sees past their humanness”~ Michael Singer
23. God’s way is Love.
“Instead of being encouraged to feel completely protected, loved, honored, and respected by the Divine Force, you’ve been taught that you’re being judged. Because you’ve been taught that, you feel guilt and fear. But guilt and fear do not open you connection to the Divine; they only serve to close your heart. The reality is that God’s way is love, and you can see this for yourself.”
24. If you can be free even though you’re feeling the energies of fear, jealousy, or attraction, then you are really free.
“There is nothing wrong with feeling the energies of fear, jealousy, or attraction. It’s not your fault that such energies exist. All the attractions, repulsions, thoughts, and feelings don’t make any difference. They don’t make you pure or impure. They are not you. You are the one who’s watching, and that one is pure consciousness.
Don’t think you’d be free if you just didn’t have these kinds of feelings. It’s not true. If you can be free even though you’re having these kinds of feelings, then you’re really free—because there will always be something.”~ Michael Singer
25. “There are two ways you can live: you can devote your life to staying in your comfort zone, or you can work on your freedom.”
26. Pay close attention to the way you speak to yourself.
“How would you feel if someone outside really started talking to you the way your inner voice does? How would you relate to a person who opened their mouth to say everything your mental voice says? After a very short period of time, you would tell them to leave and never come back. But when your inner friend continuously speaks up, you don’t ever tell it to leave. No matter how much trouble it causes, you listen.”
27. Don’t listen to everything the voices in your mind are saying.
“It’s actually a shocking realization when you first notice that your mind is constantly talking. You might even try to yell at it in a feeble attempt to shut it up. But then you realize that’s the voice yelling at the voice:”~ Michael Singer
28. “We are constantly trying to hold it all together. If you really want to see why you do things, then don’t do them and see what happens.”~ Michael Singer
29. Your relationship with God is the same as your relationship with the sun.
“Your relationship with God is the same as your relationship with the sun. If you hid from the sun for years and then chose to come out of your darkness, the sun would still be shining as if you had never left. You don’t need to apologize. You just pick your head up and look at the sun. It’s the same way when you decide to turn toward God—you just do it.”
30. If enjoying a full life means experiencing high energy, love, and enthusiasm all the time, then don’t ever close.
“The only thing you have to know is that opening allows energy in, and closing blocks it out. Now you have to decide whether or not you want this energy. How high do you want to get? How much love do you want to feel? How much enthusiasm do you want to have for the things you do? If enjoying a full life means experiencing high energy, love, and enthusiasm all the time, then don’t ever close.”~ Michael Singer
31. “Come from a space of peace and you’ll find that you can deal with anything.”~ Michael Singer
32. Growth is learning to embrace changes at all times.
“The spiritual journey is one of constant transformation. In order to grow, you must give up the struggle to remain the same, and learn to embrace change at all times.”
33. Everything that happens outside or inside requires energy.
“Just as everything that happens outside in the physical world requires energy, everything that happens inside requires an expenditure of energy.”
34. Fear is the cause of every problem.
“Fear is the cause of every problem. It’s the root of all prejudices and the negative emotions of anger, jealousy, and possessiveness. If you had no fear, you could be perfectly happy living in this world.”
35. Your morning routine or the lack of it, dramatically affects your success in life.
“How you wake up each day and your morning routine (or lack thereof) dramatically affects your levels of success in every single area of your life.”~ Michael Singer
36. “Everything will be okay as soon as you are okay with everything. And that’s the only time everything will be okay.”~ Michael Singer
37. Just let go.
“You just let go. It’s simply a matter of taking the risk that you are better off letting go than going with the energy.”~ Michael Singer
38. “Letting go of fear is not letting go of life.”~ Michael Singer
39. Any energy you fight, you are feeding.
“If you are resisting something, you are feeding it. Any energy you fight, you are feeding. If you are pushing something away, you are inviting it to stay.”
40. Be aware of your thoughts and you will find your way out of them.
“The day you decide that you are more interested in being aware of your thoughts than you are in the thoughts themselves – that is the day you will find your way out.”
41. When you feel the pull, like somebody pulling on your heart, you just let go.
“When you feel the pull, like somebody pulling on your heart, you just let go. You fall behind it. You simply relax and release. And no matter how many times you’re pulled, that’s how many times you relax and release. Because the tendency to get drawn in is constant, the willingness to let go and fall behind has to be constant.”~ Michael Singer
Bonus:
“Imagine if you used relationships to get to know other people, rather than to satisfy what is blocked inside of you. If you’re not trying to make people fit into your preconceived notions of what you like and dislike, you will find that relationships are not really that difficult. If you’re not so busy judging and resisting people based upon what is blocked inside of you, you will find that they are much easier to get along with—and so are you. Letting go of yourself is the simplest way to get closer to others.”
“You have given your mind an impossible task by asking it to manipulate the world in order to fix your personal inner problems… Your mind is not qualified for that job. Fire it, and let go of your inner problems instead.”
“People tend to burden themselves with so many choices. But, in the end, you can throw it all away and just make one basic, underlying decision: Do you want to be happy, or do you not want to be happy? It’s really that simple. Once you make that choice, your path through life becomes totally clear.”
“Imagine if you used relationships to get to know other people, rather than to satisfy what is blocked inside of you. If you’re not trying to make people fit into your preconceived notions of what you like and dislike, you will find that relationships are not really that difficult.
If you’re not so busy judging and resisting people based upon what is blocked inside of you, you will find that they are much easier to get along with—and so are you. Letting go of yourself is the simplest way to get closer to others.”
“Do not let anything that happens in life be important enough that you are willing to close your heart over it. When your heart starts to close just say, “No. I’m not going to close. I’m going to relax. I’m going to let this situation take place and be there with it.”
Honor and respect the situation, and deal with it. By all means deal with it. Do the best you can. But deal with it with openness. Deal with it with excitement and enthusiasm. No matter what it is, just let it be the sport of the day. In time, you will forget how to close. No matter what anyone does, no matter what situation takes place, you won’t even feel the tendency to close. You will just embrace life with all your heart and soul.”
“Spirituality is the commitment to go beyond, no matter what it takes. It’s an infinite journey based upon going beyond yourself every minute of every day for the rest of your life. If you’re truly going beyond, you are always at your limits. You’re never back in the comfort zone. A spiritual being feels as though they are always against that edge, and they are constantly being pushed through it.”