Alan Cohen Quotes

Everyone and everything that shows up in our life is a reflection of something that is happening inside of us.

Be happy with what you have. Be excited about what you want.

Those who love you are not fooled by mistakes you have made or dark images you hold about yourself. They remember your beauty when you feel ugly; your wholeness when you are broken; your innocence when you feel guilty; and your purpose when you are confused.

We believe we are hurt when we don't receive love. But that is not what hurts us. Our pain comes when we do not give love. We were born to love. You might say that we are divinely created love machines. We function most powerfully when we are giving love. The world has led us to believe that our wellbeing is dependent on other people loving us. But this is kind of upside down thinking that has caused so many of our problems. The truth is our well being is dependent on our giving love. It is not about what comes back; it is about what goes out!

Do not wait until the conditions are perfect to begin. Beginning makes the conditions perfect.

Guilt: punishing yourself before God doesn't.

Appreciation is the highest form of prayer, for it acknowledges the presence of good wherever you shine the light of your thankful thoughts.

Everything will line up perfectly when knowing and living the truth becomes more important than looking good.

Happy people do not demand a lot from the world because their happiness proceeds from a place deeper than the world can touch.

Personal growth is not a matter of learning new information but of unlearning old limits.

The fire of purpose easily melts the icicles of obstacles.

To grow, you must be willing to let your present and future be totally unlike your past. Your history is not your destiny.

Money is but one venue for generosity. Kindness is an even more valuable currency.

Everything will change when your desire to move on exceeds your desire to hold on.

Gratitude, like faith, is a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it grows.

Wouldn't it be powerful if you fell in love with yourself so deeply that you would do just about anything if you knew it would make you happy? This is precisely how much life loves you and wants you to nurture yourself. The deeper you love yourself, the more the universe will affirm your worth. Then you can enjoy a lifelong love affair that brings you the richest fulfillment from inside out.

If you gave your inner genius as much credence as your inner critic, you would be light years ahead of where you now stand.

We have all been hypnotized into thinking that we are smaller than we are. Just as an undersized flowerpot keeps a mighty tree root-bound or a little fishbowl keeps goldfish tiny, we have adapted, adjusted, and accommodated to a Lilliputian life. But place the same tree in an open field or the fish in a lake, and they will grow to hundreds of times their size. Unlike the tree or goldfish, you are not dependent on someone else to move you. You have the power to move yourself. You can step into a broader domain and grow to your full potential.

Trust who and what you are, and the universe will support you in miraculous ways.

Only those who ask for more can get more and only those who know there is more, ask.

When you protect yourself from pain, be sure you do not protect yourself from love.

You will find truth more quickly through delight than gravity. Let out a little more string on your kite.

Since you are the one who has to live with your choices, be sure they are your own.

It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power.

Joy is the wild card of life; it supersedes every other formula for success. If you can find a way to create joy, you can rise beyond all external factors. If you can play at whatever you are doing, you are the master of your life.

Eventually we grow weary of seeking treasures outside ourselves and we begin to look within. There we discover that the gold we sought, we already are.

View the past as your enemy, and it will be an albatross. View it as your friend, and it will give you wings.

When you invest your time and energy in stuff that drags you down, you die a little bit every day.

Don't postpone joy until you have learned all of your lessons. Joy is your lesson.

Love is heaven and fear is hell. Where you place your attention is where you live.

God is a frequency. Stay tuned.

What your heart desires is not too good to be true. It is good enough to be true.

Humility is born of the spirit, humiliation of the ego.

You change the past when you change the way you see it.

Don't use the past as an excuse to miss out on your future.

It is not insult from another that causes you pain. It is the part of your mind that agrees with the insult. Agree only with the truth about you, and you are free.

Whatever you think and talk about paves the runway for what you will create.

The door you open to give love is the very one through which love arrives.

When you learn to say yes to yourself, you will be able to say no to others, with love.

Keeping your commitment to your purpose does not depend on other people keeping theirs.

To be a miracle worker you do not have to get a doctoral degree, become a minister, eat a particular food, or be able to meditate for long hours. All you need to do is to begin to see beauty in your life and those around you.

No matter what has happened, let today be new.

Simply be who you are, do what you do best, be where you are called by joy, and let life work its magic on your behalf.

Appreciation empowers not just money transactions, but all interactions. Gratitude is one of the greatest meditations of a lifetime, the fastest attitude uplifter I know. Be grateful for all the good in your life and your good will only increase, along with your happiness.

Scared and sacred are spelled with the same letters. Awful proceeds from the same root word as awesome. Terrify and terrific. Every negative experience holds the seed of transformation.

Sometimes when things seem to be going wrong, they are going right for reasons you are yet to understand.

Life is about movement, expansion, growth, and actualizing potential. If you stay in a home, relationship, or job beyond the time it is healthy for you, the universe will prod you with thorns as if to say, “It’s time to move to a broader domain.” If you do not heed the message, the thorns will get sharper and at some point you will have no choice but to fly. When you do, you will understand why a once comfortable situation became uncomfortable.

You are destined to become the peer of those you most respect because the greatness you perceive in them is your own.

You cannot judge what should bring others joy, and others cannot judge what should bring you joy.

A life without change is not a life; it is a stagnant pool.