Words of Wisdom E-Book

Hannu Pirilä

• Herausgeber: BoD - Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Ratgeber
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 188

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Beschreibung

This book is a result of more than 30 years of research and studying different schools of personal development and the author's 15 years of experience as a Master Trainer of NLP and clinical hypnotherapist in professionally helping people in their path of personal growth. What makes this book unique from other books containing quotes is that the quotes are bundled in different topics of the personal growth process and, most importantly, interpreted and explained in a coherent way by the author. The book has quotes from more than 100 sources, including such wise people as: John Assaraf, Marcus Aurelius, Richard Bach, Richard Bandler, Sydney Banks, Richard Branson, Deepak Chopra, Stephen R. Covey, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, John F. Demartini, Joe Dispenza, Wayne W. Dyer, Albert Einstein, Viktor E. Frankl, Mahatma Gandhi, Bill Harris, David R. Hawkins, Esther and Jerry Hicks, Napoleon Hill, Sandra Ingerman, Bruce H. Lipton, Frank Martela, Paul McKenna, Anita Moorjani, Michael Neill, Seka Nikolic, Anthony Robbins, Ulla Suokko, Alberto Villodo, Alan Watts and Robert Anton Wilson This book is not just a collection of famous quotes, however, but rather a carefully considered collection of wisdoms from wise people related to personal growth, supplemented by the author's own experience and thoughts. The book covers, among others, the following topics related to personal growth: - Our Experience of Life - Creating a New Life - Vision, Goals and Directions - Meaning and Purpose - Values And Beliefs - Beliefs and Fears - Happiness - Success - Growth and Change - Gratitude - Abundance - Freedom - Love - Health and Well-Being To help the reader get the most out of it, at the end of the book everything is brought together in an understandable and coherent form. After reading the book once through, you can either choose to look at certain chapters or topics or simply open the book randomly to seek for inspiration whenever you feel like you could use some.

Leseprobe

Index

Introduction

Our Experience of Life

Perception

How Have We Created Our Lives – So Far?

Creating a New Life

Vision, Goals and Directions

Meaning and Purpose

Values And Beliefs

Beliefs and Fears

Happiness

Success

Growth and Change

Gratitude

Abundance

Freedom

Love

Health and Well-Being

Actions and Behaviors

Thought

Miscellaneous Wisdoms

Conclusion

APPENDIXES:

Acknowledgments

End Notes

Bibliography

About The Author

Other Books by Hannu Pirilä

Introduction

Let me start by giving you a metaphor.

Imagine living in a cave system. This cave system provides you with everything you need to survive: food, drink, work, etc.

In this cave system, you do the things you were taught in childhood and you feel your life is more or less safe. Of course, all kinds of adversities and dangers come your way from time to time, but life always goes on despite them.

In this cave system, there are countless caves and corridors, with spaces of different sizes, smaller and larger, in between, and over time you have learned to move around in the system, gradually expanding your familiar territory.

One of the challenges of living in the cave system, however, is that you can only see a very limited part of the cave system at a time as move around there with your lantern. You can never be sure what will come around the corner or the bend. You react to everything you encounter in ways that you have learned along the way.

Your life in the cave system runs itself much as a reaction to your environment, and all good and bad things come from your environment, in one way or another. Basically, you just do what you’ve been taught to do and hope that nothing too bad is going to happen.

However, every now and then you hear stories from other cave dwellers about a different world. In certain circles, there is a rumor that there are exits from the caves and that on the other side of them, a completely different, bright and ample world opens up. A world with unlimited possibilities!

The vast majority of the fellow cave dwellers consider this outer world to be a fairy tale, and even those who consider it possible find it quite frightening. If there are unlimited possibilities, there must also be unlimited threats!

Every now and then you hear from someone who has met someone who has been outside the cave system and some who even live there. According to them, life outside the cave system is something incredibly wonderful. Some of them also reportedly offer guidance to those who are interested in finding their way out of the caves into this bright and ample world. Some have reportedly even gone with these guides. However, few have dared. Why leave the cave system that you know? What could be so wonderful outside of it? Does such a world really exist? Why take the risk – what if I can’t find my way back if I want to?

So the vast majority of cavemen would rather stay in their limited but familiar caves than go see what life outside could offer.

Our minds are like that cave system I described: restrictive, but familiar. According to Dr. David R. Hawkins, almost 80% of people live inside their minds in a world like the cave system I described. Almost 80% of people live their lives repeating the same thoughts and the same actions, achieving the same results in their lives, staying in the familiar but restrictive environment.

The wise people whose words I quote in this book are all like those guides I described, and they have dedicated their lives to help people just like you and me to come out of the metaphorical cave system and see the bright and ample world with unlimited possibilities that is outside and accessible.

With the help of these wise guides, it is my aim to do the same.

Why Me? Why This Book?

I became interested in self-development some 30 years ago because I somehow wanted to get more out of life. Slowly my interest grew as I started to realize how much I actually can influence on how I feel and how I perceive my life.

As years went by, I started to read more and more books and attend seminars and trainings. Some of the books and seminars were amazing, some not so much. For the last twenty years or so I have also collected quotes and wise words from the books I’ve read and the seminars and trainings I’ve taken.

This book contains what I think are some of the wisest and most inspiring quotes I have collected so far. My job in this book has been to choose the quotes that I think will fit best to the purposes of the book, to put them in a coherent order and to write some of my own thoughts and interpretations that I think will help in understanding them.

On the other hand, one must remember that my thoughts and interpretations are only my own perceptions; they are not the truth. It is important that you take in whatever will make you grow in the direction that is best for you.

Largely for the same reason you may find some of the quotes contradictory. They may be or they may not be. They represent the views and thoughts of different people. Although they may not be the “truth,” they might still be exactly what you need to find your own way to the truth. At the very least, I believe that all the quotes in the book – as well as my own comments – will guide you towards your own personal growth.

Some quotes also contain words with strange capital letters. These words are related to the broader contexts of the books, which are not apparent from the short quotes. However, I have decided to leave these capital letters in the quotes to preserve their originality. This is just for the reader's information in advance...

Although the ultimate goal of this book is to help people grow mentally and spiritually and, thus, make this world a better place for all of us, my intention is not to try to tell you how to live your life. The main purpose of this book is to give you more motivation, inspiration and insights to find your own way to your personal growth.

Another purpose is to give credit to some of the greatest minds that I’ve come across so far. At the end of this book, you will find a complete list of the sources and a list of the books I have used. I highly recommend you read all of these books.

In a way, the quotes I have gathered represent the journey I have traveled in the world of self-development.

In the beginning, I read a lot of books – and collected a lot of quotes – on how to solve my problems, how to move ahead in life and how to set goals for myself. As I moved along on my path, I started to learn about the meaning our beliefs have on our thoughts and emotions, and how our thoughts affect our perceptions and how we experience life.

The more I got to understand how we truly are responsible of our lives and how we create our experience of our lives with our thoughts and perceptions, the more I became interested in the spiritual part of how we experience life.

All these stages can also be found in this book. Although these stages are somewhat scattered throughout the pages of the book, the order of the chapters is loosely following my own journey of selfdevelopment.

How to Read This Book

You can naturally read the book the way you want. There is no right or wrong way.

However, it is my recommendation that you first read it from beginning to end and once you’ve done that you can come back to specific chapters and topics whenever you feel like reviewing them.

By reading the book first from beginning to end will give you an overview of the journey that, according to my observations, most of us, in varying versions, go through on the path of our personal growth. I believe that might be also helpful for you in order to have the most coherent experience of the book.

Later, you can either choose to look at certain chapters or topics or simply open the book randomly to seek for inspiration whenever you feel like you could use some. Sometimes a random opening of a book will provide you with the exact thing you were looking for…

Regardless of the way you choose to read this book, I wish you rewarding and inspiring moments with it.

In Vantaa, Finland, March 2025

Hannu Pirilä

Chapter One

Our Experience of Life

What is our experience of life? How do we create that experience? What are we here for? How should we live our lives?

These are questions that many of us ponder throughout our lives. This chapter aims to provide some insights and answers to those questions.

Let’s start with some general thoughts about life and some information on how we create our experience of life.

How Do We Create Our Experience of Life?

Our experience of life on Earth is shaped by a dynamic interplay of internal and external factors, involving the mind, body, environment, and our relationships with others. Here's a breakdown of how this process works:

1. Perception: Interpreting Reality

Sensory Input: We perceive the world through our five senses — visual (sight), auditory (sound), kinesthetic (tactile), gustatory (taste), and olfactory (smell). These senses provide raw data about our surroundings.

Filters of Perception: Our brains filter this sensory data through past experiences, beliefs, and cultural conditioning, among other things. Two people can experience the same event but interpret it differently based on their unique filters.

2. Thought: Constructing Meaning

Internal Narratives and Images: Thoughts are like the stories we tell ourselves about what is happening. They shape our understanding of events, turning raw sensory data into meaning.

Beliefs and Assumptions: Deep-seated beliefs influence how we think about life, shaping our expectations and interpretations of the world.

3. Emotions: Adding Depth to Experience

Emotional Responses: Emotions arise as a reaction to our thoughts, perceptions, and experiences. For instance, if you interpret a situation as threatening, you may feel fear.

Emotional Memory: Past emotional experiences influence how we respond to similar situations in the future, reinforcing patterns of feeling and reacting.

4. Action: Interacting with the World

Behavioral Choices: The way we act shapes our experiences. For instance, responding with curiosity versus defensiveness can create entirely different outcomes in a situation.

Habits and Practices: Repeated behaviors become habits, which create a framework for how we live day-to-day.

5. Environment: Shaping Context

Physical Environment: Where you live, your surroundings, and the people around you play a significant role in shaping your experience of life.

Cultural and Social Influences: Societal norms and cultural values influence how we perceive and respond to life events.

6. Awareness and Consciousness: Shaping Perception

Awareness and Attention: Where you focus your attention determines what you notice and how you interpret it. Practicing meditation can help you become more aware of how you're creating your experience.

Choice and Intention: With awareness, you can consciously choose how to respond rather than reacting automatically.

7. Meaning and Purpose: The Lens of Life

Values and Goals: What you value and aim for in life shapes how you experience events. For instance, someone who values personal growth might view challenges as opportunities rather than setbacks.

Sense of Purpose: Having a sense of meaning or purpose can color life with greater satisfaction and fulfillment.

8. The Feedback Loop: Self-Reinforcing Patterns

Thought-Emotion-Action Cycle: Our thoughts influence our emotions, which drive our actions, which in turn shape our experiences and reinforce our beliefs. This creates a continuous loop of experience.

Neuroplasticity: The brain’s ability to rewire itself means that we can intentionally reshape our experiences by cultivating new thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.

We all experience, perceive, and interpret the world and its events based on our mind’s proclivity to explain via mentalization and interpretations of perceived data. This process results in what is best described as the presumption that the perceived/experienced world represent ‘reality’. In other words, we think that what we are perceiving is the reality when, in fact, what we perceive is our mind’s interpretation – kind of its ‘best guess’ – of the reality.

So, our experience of life is not just about what happens to us but how we interpret, feel, and respond to those events. By cultivating self-awareness, questioning and re-shaping limiting beliefs, and intentionally focusing on growth and gratitude, we can shape a richer, more fulfilling experience of life.

“Do you know that you are the creator of your own experience?”

-Esther and Jerry Hicks 1)

“Everything we experience – joy or pain, interest or boredom – is represented in the mind as information. If we are able to control this information, we can decide what our lives will be like.”

-Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi 2)

“Realize that you are the creator of your own reality. You can make choices, if you will only exercise your ability to do so.”

-Bill Harris 3)

“You are the cause of all your experiences of life, meaning that you are the cause of your reactions to everything that happens to you.”

-Susan Jeffers 4)

“We as human beings do not operate directly on the world. Each of us creates a representation of the world in which we live. That is, we create a map or model which we use to generate our behavior. Our representation of the world determines to a large degree what our experience of the world will be, how we will perceive the world, what choices we will see available to us as we live in the world.”

-Richard Bandler and Owen Fitzpatrick 5)

“Your senses are selective – there are certain vibrations they receive and others they don’t. And on top of your senses comes your noticing what your senses tell, because you don’t notice everything, and that is another act of selection. Then on top of that is how you interpret what you notice – what patterns of sense you fit into it, what patterns of reason you see, and patterns of what we call ‘good judgement’ – and that is still another level of selection. So, the world that we are constantly aware of is a selection of your mind.”

-Alan Watts 6)

“Your experience of life is primarily affected by the perspective you view it from. Depending upon the meaning we give to situations or events, we will feel and behave differently.”

-Paul McKenna 7)

“Our experience of the world reflects only how we represent it to ourselves, and this is not the same as the real thing.”

-Derren Brown 8)

“This gift of imagination is a gift of power. We create our lives with our thoughts and words.”

-Sandra Ingerman 9)

“This world is your imagination. Where your thinking is, there is your experience; As a man thinks, so is he; That which is feared is come upon me; Think and grow rich: Creative visualization for fun and profit; How to find friends by being who you are. Your imagining doesn’t change the Is one whit, doesn’t affect reality at all. But we are talking about Warner Brothers world, MGM lifetimes, and every second of those are illusions and imaginations.”

-Richard Bach 10)

“All that we are is the result of all we have thought. It is founded on thought. It is based on thought.”

-Buddha, The Dhammapada11)

“Once we realize that our experience of life is created from the inside-out, it follows that we each live in a unique, Thought-generated experiential reality. No two people live in the same experience of reality, and each person’s reality looks real to them.”

-Jamie Smart 12)

“The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.”

-Marcus Aurelius 13)

“The world is what you think it is.”

–Serge Kahili King 14)

“Remember – and this is very important – you’re only one thought away from happiness, you’re only one thought away from sadness. The secret lies in thought”

– Syd Banks 15)

“Until you fully understand that you, and no one else, create what goes on in your head, you will never be in control of your life.”

-Susan Jeffers 16)

“You are the creator of your own life experience, whether you know that you are or not – so you might as well do it deliberately.”

-Esther and Jerry Hicks 17)

We create our reality, and therefore our experience of life, with our thoughts, perceptions, emotions and actions, and we all have our own view of what the reality is.

By becoming more aware of your own thoughts you can become more aware of how you create your experience of life in your mind. Therefore, by changing your thoughts, you can change your life.

Next, let’s have a look at what perceptions are and how they affect our experience of life.

Chapter Two

Perception

Perception is the process through which we organize, interpret, and become aware of sensory information in order to understand and interact with our environment. It involves using the five senses — visual, auditory, kinesthetic, gustatory, and olfactory — to gather data, and then processing this data in the brain, and mind, to form meaningful experiences.

The process of forming our perception begins with sensory organs receiving stimuli from the external world. Then the brain, and mind, interprets the raw sensory data, combining it with past experiences, knowledge, and context, with the aim of creating meanings to what we experience.

Out of that, we form our subjectivity: Perception varies from person to person due to differences in experiences, attention, beliefs, values, emotions, and biases, among other things.

Perception influences how we respond to stimuli and make decisions. It shapes our reality and understanding of the world. In other words, the world we experience is the perception of the ego.

In psychology and philosophy, perception is often studied to explore how individuals construct their subjective realities and the impact of cognitive processes like attention and memory on what they perceive.

Due to the subjectivity of our perception, none of us (except perhaps those who have experienced enlightenment) live in the true reality. We all create our individual outlook of reality based on our perception of the world.

“The world is real, but our perception of that world is flawed. Our mind only ruffles the surface of the reality it observes, and thus perceives only its own distorted reflection. It therefore obscures the truth of a greater Reality.”

-David Perlmutter and Alberto Villoldo 1)

“All perception is based on how the brain is wired from our experiences in the past. We don’t perceive things in our reality the way they are; we perceive reality the way we are.”

-Dr. Joe Dispenza 2)

“The ‘truth’ is that there is no truth; there are only perceptions.”

-Richard Bandler & John La Valle 3)

“Our behavior is affected by our assumptions or our perceived truths. We make decisions based on what we think we know.”

-Simon Sinek 4)

“All reality is subjective…The subjective and objective are one and the same, just different descriptions from different points of perception.”

-Dr. David R. Hawkins 5)

“The world is as it looks and yet it isn’t. It’s not as solid and real as our perception has been led to believe, but it isn’t a mirage either. The world is not an illusion, as it has been said to be; it’s real on the one hand, and unreal on the other…We perceive. This is a hard fact. But what we perceive is not a fact of the same kind, because we learn what to perceive.”

-Carlos Castaneda 6)

“Problems don’t exist independently of human beings; they don’t exist in the universe at large. They exist in our perceptions and understandings. Our belief in things is what makes them real.”

-Richard Bandler, Alessio Roberti & Owen Fitzpatrick 7)

“Perception does not consist of passive reception of signals but of an active interpretation of signals.”

-Robert Anton Wilson 8)

“Cynical though it may at first sound, we must admit that for everyday operational purposes, truth is whatever is subjectively convincing at one’s current level of perception.”

-Dr. David R. Hawkins 9)

“We see the world, not as it is, but as we are – or, as we are conditioned to see it. When we open our mouths to describe what we see, we in effect describe ourselves, our perceptions, our paradigms.”

-Stephen R. Covey 10)

“When we are using language as a representational system, we are creating a model of our experience. This model of the world which we create by our representational use of language is based upon our perceptions of the world.”

-Richard Bandler and Owen Fitzpatrick 11)

“The changes that matter most are more often changes in perception than changes in the world outside us.

And we can change the way we perceive the world in a heartbeat.”

-Paul McKenna 12)

“Desires and other worldly passions and belief systems result in selectivity of perception.”

-Dr. David R. Hawkins 13)

“Certain beliefs can lead to a very bad day. Beliefs cause stress, not your business or life situations. It’s your perception of events that cause how you feel.”

–Mandy Evans 14)

“Holding on to the past also causes an inaccurate perception of the present, which can cause suffering. Perceiving ourselves, others, and the world we occupy clearly, as they really are, is the only path to happiness. And clear perception is always grounded in the present.”

-Tina Turner 15)

“Your perception of any given thing, at any given moment, can influence the brain chemistry, which, in turn, affects the environment where your cells reside and controls their fate. In other words: your thoughts and perceptions have a direct and overwhelmingly significant effect on cells.”

–Dr Bruce H. Lipton 16)