Peter McWilliams Quotations

If you're not actively involved in getting what you want, you don't really want it.

It's your life. Live it with people who are alive. It tends to be contagious.

To the degree we're not living our dreams, our comfort zone has more control of us than we have over ourselves.

Do what you love and the necessary resources will follow.

We can consciously end our life almost anytime we choose. This ability is an endowment, like laughing and blushing, given to no other animal... in any given moment, by not exercising the option of suicide, we are choosing to live

Guilt is anger directed at ourselves - at what we did or did not do. Resentment is anger directed at others - at what they did or did not do.

The news media are, for the most part, the bringers of bad news... and it's not entirely the media's fault, bad news gets higher ratings and sells more papers than good news.

Definition of a victim: a person to whom life happens.

Learn to ask for what you want. The worst people can do is not give you what you ask for which is precisely where you were before you asked.

To overcome a fear, here's all you have to do: realize the fear is there, and do the action you fear anyway.

What's more important-your goal, or others' opinions of your goal?

Be willing to be uncomfortable. Be comfortable being uncomfortable. It may get tough, but it's a small price to pay for living a dream.

If you change the belief first, changing the action is easier.

Mistakes show us what we need to learn.

One of the great joys of life is creativity. Information goes in, gets shuffled about, and comes out in new and interesting ways

In reality, serendipity accounts for one percent of the blessings we receive in life, work and love. The other 99 percent is due to our efforts.

Our thoughts create our reality - where we put our focus is the direction we tend to go.

The road to positivity is strewn with the abandoned vehicles of the faint-hearted.

To avoid situations in which you might make mistakes may be the biggest mistake of all.

Fear is something to be moved through, not something to be turned from.

Choosing what you want to do, and when to do it, is an act of creation.

I see nothing wrong with the human trait to desire. In fact, I consider it integral to our success mechanism. Becoming attached to what we desire is what causes the trouble. If you must have it in order to be happy, then you are denying the happiness of the here and now.

The media tends to report rumors, speculations, and projections as facts... How does the media do this? By quoting some 'expert'... you can always find some expert who will say something hopelessly hopeless about anything.

Comfort zones are most often expanded through discomfort.

Life is not a struggle. It's a wiggle.

As the world gets dumber and dumber, I feel more and more at home.

We are all, right now, living the life we choose.

While goals are chosen, a purpose is discovered. Our purpose is something we have been doing all along, and will continue to do, regardless of circumstances, until the day we die

We can consciously end our life almost anytime we choose.

Learn to ask for what you want... The worst people can do is not give you what you ask for-which is precisely where you were before you asked.

Negative thinking is always expensive -- dragging us down mentally, emotionally, and physically -- hence I refer to any indulgence in it as a luxury.

Positive thoughts have positive results. Negative thoughts produce negative results.

You are far more powerful than you ever dreamed.

To use fear as the friend it is, we must retrain and reprogram ourselves...We must persistently and convincingly tell ourselves that the fear is here--with its gift of energy and heightened awareness--so we can do our best and learn the most in the new situation.

People who want to appear clever rely on memory. People who want to get things done make lists.

To visualize is to see what is not there, what is not real -- a dream . To visualize is, in fact, to make visual lies . Visual lies, however, have a way of coming true.

Everyone thinks they can be a writer. Most people don't understand what's involved. The real writers persevere. The ones that don't either don't have enough fortitude and they probably wouldn't succeed anyway, or they fall in love with the glamour of writing as opposed to the writing of writing.

Some people think that meditation takes time away from physicalaccomplishment. Taken to extremes, of course, that's true. Most people,however, find that meditation creates more time than it takes.

This is our true wealth -- the riches we take with us, the joy we carry inside, the support we learn to give ourselves, and the self-loving that flows as a natural by-product of that support.

Avoid People and Situations That Upset You. Those things, people, situations, and experiences you dont 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?

Pain (any pain--emotional, physical, mental) has a message. The information it has about our life can be remarkably specific, but it usually falls into one of two categories: We would be more alive if we did more of this and Life would be more lovely if we did less of that. Once we get the pain's message, and follow its advice, the pain goes away.

Whenever something good happens, write it down. Buy a special notebook . . . and use it to list all the good in your life.

When people don't understand that being uncomfortable is part of the process of achievement, they use the discomfort as a reason not to do. They don't get what they want. We must learn to tolerate discomfort in order to grow.

Keep your goals away from the trolls.

It is a risk to love. What if it doesn't work out? Ah, but what if it does.

If you want peace, stop fighting. If you want peace of mind, stop fighting with your thoughts.

You can't afford the luxury of a negative thought

The reason we feel hurt and anger when things and people outside us let us down is because we believe those things and people shouldn't. Well, sorry, that's not life here on earth.

You have to follow the old rule for a while. In fact, once you master the old rule, you are then the master-and masters get to change things.

We are not responsible for every thought that goes wandering through our mind. We are, however, responsible for the ones we hold there. We're especially responsible for the one's we put there.

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.

I must conquer my loneliness alone. I must be happy with myself or I have nothing to offer you. Two halves have little choice but to join; and yes, they do make a whole. But two wholes when they coincide... that is beauty. That is love....

The comfort zone takes our greatest aspirations and turns them into excuses for not bothering to aspire.

The value of action is that we make mistakes; mistakes show us what we need to learn.

Acceptance is not a state of passivity or inaction. I am not saying you can't change the world, right wrongs, or replace evil with good. Acceptance is, in fact, the first step to successful action. If you don't fully accept a situation precisely the way it is, you will have difficulty changing it. Moreover, if you don't fully accept the situation, you will never really know if the situation should be changed.

Many people weigh the guilt, they will feel against the pleasure of the forbidden action they want to take.

For writing, getting off our buts means getting on our butts-putting it into a chair and not moving from the chair for a set period of time.

When we put things off until some future-probably mythical-Laterland, we drag the past into the future. The burden of yesterday's incompletions is a heavy load to carry. Don't carry it.

Under this law (Controlled Substances Act) a bureaucrat-usually not elected-decides whether or not a substance is dangerous and how dangerous that substance is. There's no more messing around with legislatures, presidents, or other bothersome formalities. When MDMA (ecstasy) was made illegal in 1986, no elected official voted on that. It was done "in house." People are now in jail because they did something that an administrator declared was wrong.

To change rules that are already in place takes time, energy, perseverance and a lot of hard work. You only have so many of these assets at your disposal, so choose with care the rules you want to change.

And neither shall we learn to war with ourselves anymore.

Meditation creates more time than it takes.

First, all relationships are with yourself-and sometimes they involve other people. Second, the most important relationship in your life-the one you have, like it or not, until the day you die-is with yourself.

All the good, fine, noble, and creative acts of humanity were conceived as a spark in a single human consciousness.

Heroes became heroes flaws and all. You don’t have to be perfect to fulfill your dream.

Emotion is energy in motion.

That's what depression had wrought inside me: one, vast, barren rock garden-without the garden

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.

Depression is an illness that robs one of the meaning of life. Heal the illness. As the depression heals, enthusiasm, well-being, and a sense of life's purpose will return.

..Since depression is a genetic biological illness, like diabetes, or low thyroid, it wasn't lack of character, laziness, or something I could "snap out of"-it would be like trying to snap out of a toothache.

You can change anything you want. You just can't change everything you want.

Wealth is enjoying what we already have, not getting more of what we think will make us happy.

To the degree we can live without the things of this world, to that degree we are wealthy.

To affirm is to make firm.

This is how it happens. We get the Dream, but we don't get to dictate every step toward the dream.

In life, we have either reasons or results

If we learned everything there is to know in kindergarten, it was promptly drummed out of us in first grade.

Find your horse. Discover the direction the horse is going. Ride the horse in that direction.

You're asking the government to control individual morality. This is a government that can't buy a toilet seat for under $600.

The Bible, taken as a whole, can be used to praise or condemn practically any human activity, thought, belief, or practice.

All the things you think you should have done that you didn't do, and all of the things that you shouldn't have done, accept them. You did (or did not) do them. That's Reality. That's happened. No changing the past.

The purpose of education is to make the choices clear to people, not to make the choices for people.

To visualize is to see what is not there, what is not real - a dream. To visualize is, in fact, to make visual lies. Visual lies, however, have a way of coming true.

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.

Positive thoughts: joy, happiness, fulfillment, achievement, worthiness, have positive results: enthusiasm, calm, well-being, ease, energy, love....

Stubborness is also determination. It's simply a matter of shifting from "won't power" to "will power.

I'd have a nervous breakdown except that I've been through this too many times to be nervous.

The most recent studies, . . . both behavioral and biological, indicate one's sexual orientation is genetic, something one is born with.

For the most part, most people most often choose comfort - the familiar, the time-honored, the well-worn but well-known. After a lifetime of choosing between comfort and risk, we are left with the life we currently have....

Our thoughts create our reality-not instantly, necessarily, as in "Poof! There it is" - but eventually. Where we put our focus - our inner and outer vision - is the direction we tend to go. That's our desire, our intention....

Everyone thinks they can be a writer. Most people dont understand whats involved. The real writers persevere. The ones that dont either dont have enough fortitude and they probably wouldnt succeed anyway, or they fall in love with the glamour of writing as opposed to the writing of writing.

Pain (any pain-emotional, physical, mental) has a message. Once we get the pains message, and follow its advice, the pain goes away.

If you were arrested for being kind to yourself..would there be enough evidence to convict you?

You are powerful. Sorry. Hate to be the bearer of bad news. You are. You can continue arm wrestling with yourself, or you can use both arms, your whole heart, and all your strength to wrestle with greatness. The choice is yours.

The part of us that feels anger and depression is the same part that feels peace and love. If you refuse to feel the anger and the pain of a loss, you will not be able to feel anything else until that area heals. In other words, stay out of your own way. Let yourself feel bad if you want to feel bad. Feel joy, too. Healing is taking place. Give yourself the gift of healing.

Worrying is the interest paid on a debt you may not owe.

Courage, contrary to popular belief, is not the absence of fear. Courage is the wisdom to act in spite of fear....

The ongoing successful treatment of my depression is the single most important positive step I have taken in my life, hence my enthusiasm for the subject.

Drugs, gambling, and prostitution are the Big Three underground 'moneymakers' in consensual crime. There would be, however, significant boosts to the economy if the stigma attached to the other consensual crimes were eliminated through legalization.

Negative thinking is always expensive--dragging us down mentally, emotionally, and physically--hence I refer to any indulgence in it as a luxury.