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“You Can’t Afford the Luxury of a Negative Thought”

 Quote Page

"Avoid People and Situations That Upset You. Those things, people, situations, and experiences you don't like--avoid them. Stay away. Walk away. Do something else. Some might call this cowardly. I call it smart. The world is brimming with things, people, and experiences. We will never experience all of them if we live to be 10,000. So why not associate with the ones that naturally please you?"


~ Peter McWilliams,

"You Can't Afford the Luxury of a Negative Thought"


"Approach life with acceptance, patience, flowing, giving, grace, effortlessness, simplicity, allowing, acquiescing, permitting, forgiving"  {page 237}


"Acceptance is such an important part of happiness, contentment, health, and growth that some people have called it the 'first law of personal growth.' "

~Peter McWilliams, "You Can't Afford the Luxury of a Negative Thought" {page 417}


"Learn to forgive fully and completely. If you want health, wealth, and happiness, you can't afford the luxury of lugging around all those unforgiven, unforgotten past events. Let them go."~ Peter McWilliams {page 524}


"Forgiveness is simply a matter of declaring yourself forgiven. That can surface worthiness issues faster than almost anything I know. Tell yourself you are worthy enough to be forgiven. You are. And even if you don't *feel* worthy of forgiveness, forgive yourself anyway. Prove your unworthiness wrong again. And then forgive it." ~Peter McWilliams  {Page 525}


"Because people are afraid of fear, they give up acre after acre of their own life." ~Peter McWilliams,  {page 29}


"Be easier on yourself, on everyone, on everything. Suspend your judgments on the way things should be, must be, and ought to be. Suspending judgments gives you greater ease. Consider ease the antidote for disease."

~ Peter McWilliams, "You Can't Afford the Luxury of a Negative Thought" {page 237}


"When you feel the need for excitement, see if you can find something enjoyable instead. Too much excitement strains the body. Enjoyment, in its own quiet way, strengthens."~ Peter McWilliams, {page 235}


"Make a list of the things you enjoy doing. Do them often. Actively pursuing happiness is pursuing health" ~ Peter McWilliams, {page 251}


"Fill your life with people who applaud your positive thoughts, feelings, and actions; who encourage you toward more and better; who know how to praise the good and beautiful." ~ Peter McWilliams, {page 257}


"To overcome a fear, here's all you you have to do: realize the fear is there, and do the action you fear anyway." ~ Peter McWilliams, {page 81}


"Fear is something to be moved through, not something to be turned from." ~Peter McWilliams "You Can't Afford the Luxury of a Negative Thought" {Page 82}


"Running from fear only strengthens fear-you are demonstrating that fear has power over you. Fear must be faced and gone through." ~ Peter McWilliams, "You Can't Afford the Luxury of a Negative Thought," page 76


"Take a good, honest look at your life. Decide which things, situations and people you tend to think most negatively about. Get rid of them..The one about which you thought, 'If I could only get rid of ___, but I don't dare.' That one. Dare. Throw it out, send them packing, walk away. In other words, change." ~Peter McWilliams {p 145}


"Give to live." ~ Peter McWilliams {page 226}


"If the pain is chronic, you've probably ignored lesser pains that could have given you the same information. When we need to change something, the messages telling us to get moving are like an alarm clock that keeps getting louder and louder until we finally wake up."~ Peter McWilliams {page 505}


"A life-threatening illness can be a strengthener, not necessarily to the body, but certainly to the character and to the spirit." ~ Peter McWilliams, "You Can't Afford the Luxury of a Negative Thought" {page 411}


"For many, negative thinking is a habit, which over time, becomes an addiction... A lot of people suffer from this disease because negative thinking is addictive to each of the Big Three -- the mind, the body, and the emotions. If one doesn't get you, the others are waiting in the wings." ~Peter McWilliams


"If we think of work as a way of manifesting our love, then whatever job we do can be fulfilling." ~Peter McWilliams {Page 159}


"What do we have control over? The space within the skin of our body. We can work to make that environment as loving, joyful, peaceful and delightful as we like."

~Peter McWilliams, "You Can't Afford the Luxury of a Negative Thought" {p. 418}


"Learn to forgive fully and completely. If you want health, wealth, and happiness, you can't afford the luxury of lugging around all those unforgiven, unforgotten past events. Let them go." ~ Peter McWilliams {page 524}


"Approach life with acceptance, patience, flowing, giving, grace, effortlessness, simplicity, allowing, acquiescing, permitting, forgiving" ~Peter McWilliams,  {page 237}


"Learn to forgive fully and completely. If you want health, wealth, and happiness, you can't afford the luxury of lugging around all those unforgiven, unforgotten past events. Let them go."~ Peter McWilliams {pg 524}


"Make a list of the things you enjoy doing. Do them often. Actively pursuing happiness is pursuing health" ~ Peter McWilliams, {Page 251}


"For many, negative thinking is a habit, which over time, becomes an addiction... A lot of people suffer from this disease because negative thinking is addictive to each of the Big Three -- the mind, the body, and the emotions. If one doesn't get you, the others are waiting in the wings." ~Peter McWilliams


"If we think of work as a way of manifesting our love, then whatever job we do can be fulfilling." ~Peter McWilliams {Page 159}


"What do we have control over? The space within the skin of our body. We can work to make that environment as loving, joyful, peaceful and delightful as we like."

~Peter McWilliams, "You Can't Afford the Luxury of a Negative Thought" {p. 418}


“Desire happiness, aspire to gratitude, long for health, crave compassion, seek satisfaction, lust after God, however & whatever you perceive God to be, want to love yourself, others & everything around you more and more each day"

~ Peter McWilliams, “You Can't Afford the Luxury of a Negative Thought"


"You are far more powerful than you ever dreamed. As you discover and learn how to use your power, use it only for your upliftment and the upliftment of others.

You are a marvelous, wonderful, worthwhile person-just because you are. That's

the point of view I'll be taking. Please join me for a while-an hour; a week, a lifetime-at that viewing point." ~ Peter McWilliams, Author's Notes


“If you take good care of the moment, the years will take care of themselves."

~ Peter McWilliams,  {pg. 141}


"Don't become so obsessed with the goal that the process is not enjoyable."

~Peter McWilliams  {page 206}


"Be gentle with yourself and others. Don't become so obsessed with the goal that the *process* is not enjoyable. Send the light of your own loving ahead of you. When you get there, the loving will have prepared a place for you. Be kind, gentle and enjoy the journey" ~Peter McWilliams  {page 206}


If you're not actively involved in getting what you want,

you don't really want it."

~ Peter McWilliams,  {p. 209}


"If the pain is chronic, you've probably ignored lesser pains that could have given you the same information. When we need to change something, the messages telling us to get moving are like an alarm clock that keeps getting louder and


louder until we finally wake up." ~ Peter McWilliams {page 505}


"When we've learned the lesson the pain was sent to teach, it generally goes. How do we know we've learned the lesson? When the pain is gone. If it remains, there's probably more to learn-and to do." ~ Peter McWilliams, "You Can't Afford the Luxury of a Negative Thought" {page 505}


"Laughter is essential to our equilibrium, to our well-being, to our aliveness. If we're not well, laughter helps us get well. If we are well, laughter helps us stay that way." ~ Peter McWilliams, "You Can't Afford the Luxury of a Negative Thought" {p.247-248}


"A purpose is not a goal. A purpose can never be obtained, reached, or checked off. A purpose is fulfilled, continuously, in every moment. Goals that can be defined, achieved, and noted are but way stations along life's purpose." ~ Peter McWilliams,  {page 191}

"So, if you hate your job, either change your job or change your attitude about the job. One or the other. Don't indulge in negative thinking about it."

~ Peter McWilliams, {p. 160}


"If you can't find something positive about your environment, look again-with 'fresh eyes.' Try another point of view. Be creative. What good are you taking for granted? If you can't find anything, hold your breath. Within a few minutes, you'll *really* appreciate breathing."

~Peter McWilliams {Page 137}


"Let's say you're driving down the freeway and the little light goes on, telling you you're running out of gas. I do not suggest ignoring that bit of 'negativity' and focusing how wonderful it is that none of the other warning lights is on. I suggest you get some gas." ~ Peter McWilliams {page 112}


"I believe humans were born to have joy and to have it more abundantly; that the birthright of everyone is loving, caring, sharing and abundance. All the negative stuff has just been layered on top of our essential core of goodness.."

~Peter McWilliams. (page 52)


"Fear is something to be moved through, not something to be turned from." ~Peter McWilliams "You Can't Afford the Luxury of a Negative Thought" {page 82}


"If something can't be removed, ask for the strength to endure it. There is an old saying, 'That which doesn't destroy us makes us stronger.' A life-threatening illness can be a strengthener, not necessarily to the body, but certainly to the character and to the spirit." ~ Peter McWilliams, {page 411}


"Gratitude opens the place in you to receive. Whom do you prefer giving to: people who truly appreciate your gifts, or those who find fault with every little detail? The universe probably thinks as you do: let's give to the grateful.

And so it does." ~ Peter McWilliams, {page 529}


"Whenever you hear yourself saying (to yourself or someone else) 'I'm afraid,' change it to 'I'm excited.' Then it becomes *preparation energy.* It keeps your mind focused, your energy up, your attention clear-just what you need to do new and 'exciting' things." ~ Peter McWilliams, {page 204}


"In any given moment, there is ample evidence to prove that life is a bed of thorns or a garden of roses. How we feel about life depends on where we place our attention, that is, what we focus upon." ~ Peter McWilliams, "You Can't Afford the Luxury of a Negative Thought" {page 109}


"When we've learned the lesson the pain was sent to teach, it generally goes. How do we know we've learned the lesson? When the pain is gone. If it remains, there's probably more to learn-and to do." ~ Peter McWilliams, "You Can't Afford the Luxury of a Negative Thought" {page 505}


"The irony is when people finally 'give up' and do appreciate the moment, they often realize that life can be a wonderful place. They see it wasn't life itself, but their *reaction* to life that was causing the dis-ease." ~ Peter McWilliams, {page 127}


"You are a marvelous, wonderful, worthwhile person - just because you are. That's the point of view I'll be taking. Please join for a while - an hour, a week, a lifetime - at that viewing point." ~ Peter McWilliams,  {page 5}


"You *are* a good person. You do a lot of good things. And sometimes you don't. Does that alter the fact that you're good? Not at all. It merely confirms the fact that you're a *human being.* " ~ Peter McWilliams, "You Can't Afford the Luxury of a Negative Thought" {p. 389}


"Some illnesses, traditional medical science can cure with a bottle of pills. I take the pills. Other illnesses have traditional medical science stumped, but for the natural healer, they are no problem. In those cases, I visit the alternative practitioner."

~ Peter McWilliams, "You Can't Afford the Luxury of a Negative Thought" {page 304}


"Make a list of the things you enjoy doing. Do them often. Actively pursuing happiness is pursuing health" ~ Peter McWilliams, {page 251}


"Whatever makes you happy~as long as it doesn't hurt you or someone else~do it. Schedule pleasurable activities into your life with the same dedication, precision and priority you give less-than-pleasurable ones." ~Peter McWilliams, "You Can't Afford the Luxury of a Negative Thought" {page 251}


"Without thoughts, things that involve any sort of human action simply don't happen. Where we are is the result of a lifetime of thinking-both positive and negative."

~Peter McWilliams "You Can't Afford the Luxury of a Negative Thought" { Page 39}


"There are many misconceptions about depression-mostly negative. Unfortunately, because depressed people think negatively about depression and its treatment, they don't get help, which allows the depression to worsen, which leads to more negative thinking, which produces a vicious cycle of suffering." ~Peter McWilliams,

"You Can't Afford the Luxury of a Negative Thought," page 323