Stop Trying to Overpower What Disturbs You

July 2021 Issue

Written by Guy Finley

I

compelled to help yourself out of a dark inner thought or feeling. Remember the silent force. Go silent! Choose to watch, as quietly as possible, all the familiar thoughts and feelings calling for your attention … and dare to give them the silent treatment. This new order of silence and inner light will do for you what you have not been able to do for yourself. It will turn the dark inner skies into pleasant blue ones. Go silent, and watch the dark clouds of thoughts and feelings pass through you. Behind them is the sun.

It isn’t this world that threatens or disturbs us. We are dominated by our own thoughts and feelings. We are taken over by our own reactions. This is painful for us because our original nature, our true self, longs to be free and unencumbered by self-limiting, selfdefeating, compulsive thoughts and feelings.

The problem is, at our present level, we believe that another person or event is causing our unhappy feelings. We want power over them in the hope that it will give us power over our punishing feelings. Can you see that this approach to self-command is doomed from its illconceived beginning?

So where do we look for the power we need to be happy?

Look for this power not in a person, place, possession, idea, or belief, but through the new understanding that your higher, permanent nature needs no power outside of itself in order to be in charge of an inner or outer attacker. Its strength is what I call the silent force. It alone can do for you what you have been unable to do for yourself.

These huge inner shadows with all their howling may be present, but where is it written that they belong to you? The silent force is the understanding that you need not answer to any disturbance within you. Any form of response to a negative state, other than to silently observe it, is always a form of resistance to it. And what we resist persists.

There is no self-power that can make light out of darkness. Remember this lesson the next time you feel

About The Author

GUY FINLEY

Guy Finley is an internationally renowned spiritual teacher and bestselling self-help author. He is the founder and director of Life of Learning Foundation, a nonprofit center for spiritual self-study located in Merlin, Oregon. He is the best-selling author of The Secret of Letting Go and 45 other books and audio programs that have sold over 2 million copies, in 30 languages. Guy holds regular in-person classes at Life of Learning Foundation including two free talks each week that are live-streamed. To Learn More Visit: www.GuyFinley.org