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Heart and life inspiring quotes taken from the Inner change documentary
Quotes from spirituals teachers, activists, psychiatrist and neurologists
Intriguing, life changing, life giving quotes from the documentary project Innerchange. Discover what people from different background, faith or none have to say about self developpement and spiritual developpement. Quotes that will help you live your life to it's full potential.
Each quote comes from an interview and a meditation. Click on any quote images to discover the quote in full, the interview and the meditation releated to that quote.
Today's quote from Sami Awad
"When fear takes over as an individual or a community, it completely limits and closes the possibility for anything moving forward."
All quotes currently available
Developping empathy
Richard Davidson
"It is possible to increase a person's empathy and compassion."
Choosing one side and preferring it – dualism
Richard Rohr
"We choose one side, and once you choose it, you prefer it."
Dialog is a softening of attitude toward the other
Sharon Booth
"Dialogue creates that empathy for the other side."
Forgiveness is offered from a position of strength
Robert Enright
"Forgiveness is offered from a position of strength, not weakness."
Nonviolence is a key for the healing process
Sami Awad
"Nonviolence breaks their narrative of who I am to them."
Anchoring ourselves in those noble human qualities – forgiveness and compassion
Arno Michaelis
"Let us anchor ourselves in compassion and forgiveness to be able to address these very serious problems we face as a human race."
When we love each other, we are practicing our religion
Hajiya Binta Bakari
"When we love each other, we are practicing our religion."
We can learn to channel our anger
Arun Gandhi
"Learning how to deal with our anger is the first major step in practicing nonviolence."
Our brain is a living thing, always changing, evolving
Jacques Besson
"The brain is a living thing, a marvellous organ which is new every day."
The bells of love in a desperate time
Markus Gamache
"Pour in love in a heart full of hatred, that heart will be melted."
The walk to meet the other even when there is fear
Malkhaz Songulashvili
"We reached a point where fear is not our friend any longer. It will not save us any longer."
Discovering the pain and the brokenness
Holly Roach Knight
"The contemplative builds our capacity to sit with adverse emotions, not judge them but be present to them."
Prayer is when you recognise you don’t know what to do
Shaul Judelman
"Prayer is when you recognise you don't know what to do."
Nonviolence can be internalized to a very deep degree
Richard Davidson
"Nonviolence can be internalized to a very deep degree."
Balancing the emotional and the thoughts systems
Andrew Newberg
"When you get angry at somebody your emotional centers go up and your thought centers go down. You stop thinking and then you start reacting."
Breaking free from our wrong doings and being empowered
Ramez Salamé
"We are tied by things which we have done wrong. When you try to repair that, you are empowered to do your heart's desires."
Meeting the other on a moral and spiritual level
Assaad Chaftari
"I discovered that the others had names and that I could use their names to speak of them."
Listen to the other, it will bring a softening
Sharon Booth
"When we listen to the others, we develop a softening attitude toward them."
Forgiveness offers goodness to the other
Robert Enright
"Through forgiveness we offer goodness of some kind: kindness, respect, generosity or love."
When an injury is felt like a great weight on you
Andrew Newberg
"The forgiveness process sort of dissipates that weight, that negative energy and emotions and changes it around."
Dancing in the flow of spirituality and action
Gabriel Meyer
"Spirituality and action have to go together."
Walking toward peace for oneself and for the world
angel Kyodo williams
"The whole purpose of making the peace with oneself is so that we can be useful in the world."
Forgiveness, a beautiful way to live
Bill Pelke
"Forgiveness should be a habit, a way of life to just keep on forgiving."
Grow into your new spiritual experience
Brian McLaren
"I can think of several critical spiritual experiences where I had to learn how to grow into."
Haunted by the experience of the past
Sami Awad
"The experiences of the past that have caused us to become afraid now limit in every single way the possibility of making peace for the future."
We have a preference for cooperative warmhearted non-violent interactions
Richard Davidson
"There's very good evidence to show that there is such a thing as innate basic goodness.
We have a preference for cooperative warmhearted non-violent interactions."
Quite time
Ramez Salamé
"It's a continuous struggle every day to be up to this task to bring change.
What helps me is this moment I spend everyday of quiet time where I go back to myself."
Letting go of our grunges
Joseph Tizhe Kwaha
"If you're holding grudges, you will be in pain. But once you let that go you will receive healing."
The long process of change
Assaad Chaftari
"I started this long process of change by looking in the mirror of myself. I'm not done yet."
The mirror of us
Hajiya Binta Bakari
"Children use us as a mirror. Let us show children what love and empathy are all about."
Pure presence: it is what it is
Richard Rohr
"In pure presence there's no problem to solve.
It just is what it is, what it is, what it is."
Who is my neighbour?
Malkhaz Songulashvili
"Our neighbours are not only people but everything that has been created which makes our lives whole: animals, plants, trees, whatever makes our lives so beautiful."
A boudaryless love
Malkhaz Songulashvili
"The Eucharistic table is about the boundary-less love of Christ."
Our mind is like a mind jar that needs to learn to pause before responding
Lisa Thomas Prince
"Drawing from my practice of meditation, I can take a step back from my own reactions and words."
Discerning when it’s the right time to speak, the kairos time
Holly Roach Knight
"In contemplative activism it's helpful to discern when it's my egoic need to be heard or seen or when it's the right time to speak."
A life of forgiveness, a life worth living
Bill Pelke
"I learned the most important lesson in life was about forgiveness. It makes life worth living."
Seeing the world differently
Arno Michaelis
"When I changed my lens and put one that sees the best in all human beings, it changed the way that I experienced the world."
Being able to say I’m sorry
Ramez Salamé
"For dialog to be fruitful, it’s necessary to admit where I was wrong and try to fix that."
Sister and brother of very human being
John Dear
"We are sisters and brothers of every human being on the planet. We are all one."
The enlightenment experience changes our life
Andrew Newberg
"The enlightenment experience changes the way we think and understand the world."
The journey from self to part of the whole
Cynthia Borgeault
"The spiritual path takes us from preoccupation with self to a capacity to see as part of the universal whole."
Dualism separates us
Brian McLaren
"The dualistic mindset is deeply embedded into us.
We can develop a new way of seeing, a mature way of seeing."
Letting those old ideas of politics, racism and religious becomes less significant
Don Mosley
"By working with thousands of refugees, we have discovered that all the differences became less and less significant."
When you forgive, you become stronger
Robert Enright
"There are two paradoxes in forgiveness:
You give goodness to someone who don't deserve it and you can become emotionally healed."
A sense of spirituality
Richard Davidson
"When we have a sense of spirituality we are focused more on others than on ourselves and that is an important ingredient to well-being."
Meaning making means your stories has a purpose
Marina Cantacuzino
"Some people express forgiveness as "The gift in the wound"."
Enlightenment and awareness as a cure to the lie
Richard Rohr
"Once you see that your scapegoating of another race or group or person
has nothing to do with truth and reality, it's very hard to continue to do it."
Nonviolence is the achievement of violence
Jacques Besson
"The more you are evolved in the evolution of life, the more you are able to inhibit your drives and your behaviors."
A tribute to Coffee Worth – a life of joy
Louise “Coffee” Worth
"The positive approach of nonviolence has been a big thing in my life!"
Finding freedom with one’s own religion
Dave Andrews
"The challenge is to discover what affirms and negates of compassion for the other in our own religion."
Nonviolence a word that has not been copted by the culture of violence
John Dear
"The word "nonviolence" carries deeper meaning for us today than the words "peace" and "love"."
Being transformed – Wholeness of all humanity
Holly Roach Knight
"Through contemplation, I want to be able to transform oppression rather than cut it out like a cancer."
Running away to what’s connecting me to the others
Brian McLaren
"When I experience life as connection, I am forced to face the problems that we all share."
Crossing bridges
Curtiss Paul Deyoung
"It's important to be able to see through the eyes of the other."
Empathy: a strong emotion to have
Sharon Booth
"The ability to empathize can be a really powerful positive force."
Leaving violence – choosing a way of peace
Ziad Fahed
"I discovered the reality that violence is never a solution. I met peace builders who showed me by their exemple the way to peace."
When religion becomes a social identity
Assaad Chaftari
"Unfortunately Christianity became a title to define myself with or my people. But it should be a way of living a life of love."
Every generation has to won this battle to change ourself
Ramez Salamé
"This battle of changing myself is is a battle which has to be won by every generation, it cannot be won once for all."
The power of social learning
Richard Davidson
"Simply being around another person who radiate with these positive qualities is an important ingredient in and of itself in promoting this positive change in others."
Our common humanity: a gift to share
Markus Gamache
"When Jesus talked about loving your enemy, did he ever think about the Boko Haram crisis?"
When forgiveness walks in a place
Hajiya Binta Bakari
"I work with victims of Boko Haram, both Muslim and Christian. Forgiveness is what make us move forward."
Compassion and love’s healing power
Bill Pelke
"When my heart was touched with love and compassion, I no longer pictured the violent murder of my grandmother. I pictured how she lived
and what a beautiful person she was."
Nonviolence: a solid way to make peace
Maria J Stephan
"We found that the nonviolent campaigns were twice as effective historically as the violent campaigns."
What we cultivate in our inner world is what we will see in our outer world
Brian McLaren
"What we cultivate in our inner life is what we will see in our outer world."
Contemplate the world and what is inside of me
Itaf Awad
"I used to be very angry. I couldn't help myself and my people. Then I found peace inside of me and now I can share it."
Reconnect to your source, choose love
Richard Rohr
"We can connect to our source and say: "I choose love"."
Fear how much does it votes for me?
Shaul Judelman
"My own anger:
How much does it votes for me?
How it chooses how I see people?"
Going beyond what I think those people were
Alize Jireh Yaccino
"It's important to let the fear go, to talk with people, to listen to their stories. It's the only way to understand the truth."
Apathy: a state of indifference or concern about something
Jacques Besson
"Apathy is a central symptom in depression and depression is a cardinal symptom of the crisis of civilization."
Be an artist of your humanity
Ali Abu Awwad
"Nonviolence is an art.
To be nonviolent is to be an artist of your humanity."
Recalling it brings a smile
Lori Gustafson
"The practice of looking for a moment during the day that just recalling it brings a smile."
The field that knows no boundaries
Malkhaz Songulashvili
"If it is possible to reconcile people in my heart, it should be possible to reconcile people in real life."
Welcoming ourself, welcoming the other
Arno Michaelis
"I needed to see empathy demonstrated to understand it."
The emotional life of nonviolence – Grief and joy
John Dear
"Desmond Tutu told me:
"I've spent my whole life weeping and my whole life laughing".
That's the emotional life of nonviolence."
Spirituality reconnects us to our own breath
angel Kyodo williams
"So that spirituality however you say reconnects us to the relationship with our own breath, with the spirit, with the vibrant force of life."
Faith
Andrew Newberg
"In our reseach, we found that faith is perhaps one of the best things that you can have or do as far as your brain is concerned."
The primary addiction of human beings
Richard Rohr
"The primary addiction of human beings is that we are addicted to our own way of thinking."
Let’s go inside of ourselves
Andres Gonzales
"We have the tools within us to be happy. Let's go inside of ourselves and just be present."
Fear is the catalyst
Sami Awad
"When fear takes over as an individual or a community, it completely limits and closes the possibility for anything moving forward."
Cultivate a healthy habit of mind
Richard Davidson
"The brain is constantly being shaped wittingly or unwittingly. Let's all take more responsability for the shaping of our own brains."
Let peace interacts with all the element
Arun Gandhi
"Don't put peace in a gold box, let peace interact with all the elements and soon it will spread."