Chris Prentiss Quotes & Sayings

Every belief that you hold manifests itself in some manner by either causing you to take some form of action or by preventing you from taking action. If you don't believe something is possible, you won't even attempt it. — Chris Prentiss

The totally alive, totally conscious, and totally aware Universe takes care of itself completely. It is totally self-reliant and totally self- sufficient. it is perfect. — Chris Prentiss

Once an event has taken place, since you cannot alter the past, all that is left to you is your response. — Chris Prentiss

You are a perfect spiritual being. Get used to that idea. — Chris Prentiss

A relationship is like a garden. To create a condition that will cause your plants to thrive and produce abundantly, you must weed, water, fertilize, and care for the plants in your garden. You must also know about the special needs of the plants you're caring for. Some need more or less light than others, some need more or less water than others, and some need special fertilizers. — Chris Prentiss

To give up power to change for the better is inherently distasteful to everyone, and to force people to affirm that they are addicts or alcoholics so they can speak in a meeting is shameful and demoralizing. — Chris Prentiss

The events that occur in my life are workout situations. They are there for my benefit so I can become strong and gain wisdom and information by working my way through those situations. — Chris Prentiss

When people who believe themselves to be addicts or alcoholics come under great stress or trauma, they mentally give themselves permission to drink or use drugs as a remedy. — Chris Prentiss

The Zen of doing anything is doing it with a particular concentration of mind, a calmness and simplicity of mind, that brings the experience of enlightenment and, through that experience, happiness. — Chris Prentiss

A computer cannot manufacture new information. That's the difference between our brain and a computer. — Chris Prentiss

Do you believe in chaos- in random, uncontrolled events, in the idea that anything can happen at any time without fixed laws governing it? If you believe that, you will always be in a state of fear, not knowing what will happen from one moment to the next. The fear might be small, but it is there. That fear results in a lack of security and a feeling of mistrust. — Chris Prentiss

You can easily see that if you are regularly nasty to your loved one, it won't be long before cause and effect sets in and undermines your relationship. The reverse is also true: if you are unceasingly caring and loving to your loved one and act with the Laws of Love in mind, you will be deeply loved in return and your relationship will thrive. — Chris Prentiss

In the one-treatment-fits-all approach, clients sit in group meetings all day and all evening and listen to each other stories. At the end of the first week, everyone in the room knows everyone's story. That goes on for three more weeks, and then most people go home with the same problems they brought with them when they arrived. — Chris Prentiss

When you imagine yourself as a failure or as having insurmountable problems in your relationships or any part of your life, you think failure, act failure, and produce failure. — Chris Prentiss

The moment you make the internal changes necessary to obtain your goal, the outside world changes instantly. — Chris Prentiss

What we call coincidences, accidental and remarkable events occurring at the same time, are actually circumstances and events that have come into your life to serve a purpose is to benefit you. — Chris Prentiss

When you change the way you see and interpret events, suddenly everything will be different for you. Everything will make sense. — Chris Prentiss

The energy everything is made of is conscious. It's alive. — Chris Prentiss

In the eyes, heart, and mind of the one you love and who you want to love you, you will become, in essence, a new person. — Chris Prentiss

Take a few minutes now and see your current circumstances- your physical condition, your emotional condition, your possessions, your financial condition, where and how you live, your relationships, the situations surrounding your life, and the way you believe other people see you- as mirrors showing you "Who You Are. — Chris Prentiss

Even if it is painful and lonely, associate with worthy companions. — Chris Prentiss

Can you see that meetings and centers that don't address the real causes of dependency are almost certain to be little or no help? They actually can be very damaging. — Chris Prentiss

The way to heal your relationship is to look for the underlying conditions in yourself and in your partner that have caused your relationship to go off track and then to seek out the guidance you need to heal yourself. The Laws of Love will give you that guidance. — Chris Prentiss

The more you engage in any type of emotion or behavior, the greater your desire for it will become. — Chris Prentiss

What will allow you to enter the world of great relationships is living in accord with the simple but powerful Laws of Love. — Chris Prentiss

The Universe is alive, conscious, and aware. — Chris Prentiss

The world actually is a mirror, and as you change, you will see everything around you changing as well as mirroring your changes. — Chris Prentiss

You are not alone in your quest to be who you want and have what you want. — Chris Prentiss

We know that you don't want to be a drunk and you don't want to be hooked on addictive drugs. You do it because you can't cope with your life without some sort of support, even if that support is damaging. — Chris Prentiss

If you examine your motive for doing anything, you'll soon discover that your reason is that you believe it will make you happy. — Chris Prentiss

Those with limited views are fearful and irresolute: the faster they hurry, the slower they go. — Chris Prentiss

The Universe doesn't make mistakes. — Chris Prentiss

When nothing else worked, we created a holistic, hand-tailored program that saved Pax's life. At Passages, he and I use what we learned in curing him to help other discover the roots of their addiction or alcoholism and break free. — Chris Prentiss

To have the beautiful relationship you want, you and your partner must share your life stories with each other, holding nothing back. That sharing includes any past experiences of brutality, traumas, rape, incest, and emotional or mental torture of any kind that either of you has experienced as well as the wonderful memories you each cherish. — Chris Prentiss

From this moment forward, I am in control of every situation. I will always know the exact right action to take, and this is so. I will now obtain vibrant good health. I will have the possessions I want, I now have the power and wisdom to bring this about, and this is so. I will have peace and harmony in my life. I will have love and abundance, and this is so. I now claim all these things for my own from this time forward. — Chris Prentiss

We wouldn't have much need of a war if people stopped using drugs. It's like taking up a fight against the use of headache remedies; it will never work until the condition causing people's headache pain is healed. — Chris Prentiss

I wrote this book to show you that a cure is entirely possible because I've seen it happen over and over again. — Chris Prentiss

A patient complains of feeling nervous or fearful. These feelings and behaviors suggest that the patient has an anxiety disorder, and the doctor prescribes whatever drug will most probably work for an anxiety disorder. However, there's no conclusive way to tell that this patient definitely has an anxiety disorder. Even if the doctor did get the diagnosis correct, there's a great deal of variation regarding which drug class (for example, anti-anxiety drugs versus antidepressants) a particular individual will respond to and which drug within a class (for example, Prozac versus Zoloft) will work best. If the drug doesn't work, the doctor will try the next one on the list and so on, thus delaying treatment success and complicating the process with the mix-and-match type of treatment. — Chris Prentiss

If you feel depressed for an hour, you've produced approximately eighteen billion new cells that have more receptors calling out for depressed-type peptides and fewer calling out for feel-good peptides. — Chris Prentiss

Each river is different, but they all eventually lead to the ocean. No matter what we're doing or when, or whether it brings us happiness or remorse, gain or loss, we're all on our individual paths to enlightenment. Even when we've done something we consider wrong, we're still on our path to enlightenment. — Chris Prentiss

A strong personal philosophy does more than sustain us through the tragedies of life. It also stains us daily in everything we think and do. It gives us optimism and hope. — Chris Prentiss

To preserve what you have, to keep your relationships alive and glowing, give generously- give of your time, you assets, your attention, your help, and your love. Give of yourself. — Chris Prentiss

The relationship must come first or it will not last. — Chris Prentiss

Again, all of life presents us with two basic ways to treat events. We can either label them "god for us" or "bad for us." The event is only an event. It's how we treat the event that determines what it becomes in our lives. The event doesn't make that determination- we do. — Chris Prentiss

Think about the stigma that is attached to the idea that alcoholism is a disease, an incurable illness, and you have it. That's a terrible thing to inflict on someone. Labeling alcoholism as a disease, a cause unto itself, simply no longer fits with what we know today about its causes. — Chris Prentiss

You have chosen to exist, and more than just exist-- you've been chosen to share in the Universal consciousness. — Chris Prentiss

If I were to create a word that more accurately describes alcoholism and addiction, I would say it was dependencyism. Sounds silly, doesn't it? Yet it's no sillier than the word alcoholism. The reason alcoholism no longer sounds silly to you is because you're used to hearing it, reading it, and thinking about it. — Chris Prentiss

Whatever you are trying to achieve in life, it is essential that you surround yourself with people who believe that what you seek and what you believe in are not only possible but also very probable. — Chris Prentiss

Don't be concerned if you haven't been aware of these natural laws before. Once you begin to incorporate a philosophy into your life that is in accordance with Universal law, your life will bring you such joy, that you'll laugh in amazement. It will be as if you've spent your life driving a car in reverse and you've sudenly discovered that there are gears to make it go forward - and fast! — Chris Prentiss

There is no cell culture for depression. You can't see it on a bone scan or an x-ray. Not everyone with depression will show the same behavioral symptoms. — Chris Prentiss

The punishment approach and bad consequences approach to treatment is the kind of thinking that is prevalent in every residential substance abuse treatment center in the United States of which I'm aware. — Chris Prentiss

You create your future moment by moment. — Chris Prentiss

First-class relationships are possible only in an atmosphere of total trust. — Chris Prentiss

It's a simple working formula: if who you are and what you have- in your relationships, at home, or on the job- are what you want, that's perfect; keep doing what you've been doing and you'll get more of it. However, if who you are and what you have is less than or different than what you want, you'll have to make some basic changes. — Chris Prentiss

Times change and discoveries are made that render earlier techniques and approaches less effective. Change is inevitable. To remain rigid when the whole world is changing and advancing is to invite misfortune. The AA program in particular is challenged with an opportunity of unprecedented magnitude. — Chris Prentiss

How do you change what you believe when your experience has convinced you otherwise? By creating a new experience. The best way for you to get that new experience is to change your response to what happens. By the natural law of cause and effect, that new response will create new results, which you will then experience as a new reality. To reach the goal of happiness, act as though the following statement is already true: Everything that happens to me is the best thing that can happen to me. — Chris Prentiss

If who you are and what you have is what you want, that's perfect. Keep doing what you've been doing and you'll get more of it. — Chris Prentiss

By changing how you perceive things and how you act upon those perceptions, you will change your life. — Chris Prentiss

A diminished self-image will cause you to slouch, to avoid meeting others, to avoid looking others in the eye, to be unassertive, and to be indecisive. — Chris Prentiss

The true source of happiness is within each of us. — Chris Prentiss

Most centers offer a one-program-fits all type of service, which is rather like a department store that sells one-size fits all clothing. — Chris Prentiss

If you have experienced recurring situations in your life that are unpleasant, know that there is something you are supposed to be getting from those situations that you have not been getting and that the moment you get it, those situations will pass out of your life, not to return. — Chris Prentiss

In 1935, when there were no other programs, the founders of AA, Bill Wilson and Dr. Robert Smith, stepped up to the plate and took action to help a crippled population. All credit for the establishment of their wonderful, life-saving group goes to them and to those who came after them who have continued the tradition. However, there are not among the estimated two or three million who attend twelve-step meetings. — Chris Prentiss

Every person in the AA program who's successful is living proof that he or she does have power over addictive drugs and alcohol- the power to stop. — Chris Prentiss

If you are surrounded by people who not only don't believe in your goals and your positive outlook on life, but who also continually try to tear you down, it will be extremely challenging for you to hold firmly in mind that you will succeed and that you can be happy. — Chris Prentiss

Not only is the Universe aware of us, but it also communicates with us. We, in turn, are constantly in communication with the Universe through our words, thoughts, and actions. The Universe responds with events. Events are the language of the Universe. The most obvious of those events are what we call coincidence. — Chris Prentiss

You can open to the idea that whatever happened to you in the past eventually turned out or will turn out to be a benefit to you. — Chris Prentiss

When you need an idea about how to do anything, get quiet and relaxed and think about what it is you need to know. Then the flow of ideas will come. Be patient and let it happen. Sometimes it takes a little while, but it always works. — Chris Prentiss

Negative emotions, like depression or anxiety, have been shown to affect our immune system. Stress impedes wound healing. — Chris Prentiss

Zen is a journey of exploration and a way of living that, in and of itself, does not belong to any one religion or tradition. It is about experiencing life in the here and now and about removing the dualistic distinctions between "I" and "you" between "subject" and "objective", between our spiritual and our ordinary, everyday activities. — Chris Prentiss

The best way for you to get that new experience is to change your response to what happens. — Chris Prentiss

The challenges and changes you meet are, in effect, hand delivered to you by a generous, loving Universe for the purpose of making you stronger and wiser. — Chris Prentiss

How you conduct yourself along the path that is your life determines how your life unfolds. — Chris Prentiss

The Universe continues to be perfect at every moment and never permits even the first imperfect event to occur. It goes from perfect to perfect to perfect. — Chris Prentiss

Stress and anxiety cause our brains to release chemicals that put lines in our faces and tear us down emotionally and spiritually. — Chris Prentiss

The reality is that the quality of your relationship depends mainly on one thing: you. — Chris Prentiss

Your perception of the world and the way you see yourself in it has created within your mind a concept, a philosophy, of the way you believe things to be. — Chris Prentiss

Your actions create an "energy vortex" that draws in the necessary ingredients for your venture. — Chris Prentiss

Embrace simplicity ... be content with what you have and are, and not one can despoil you. — Chris Prentiss

Life is like a river: nothing is ever the same, even for an instant. — Chris Prentiss

If you can stop using substance or stop your addictive behavior for extended periods of time without craving, you are not dependent. You are dependent only if you can't stop without physical or psychological distress (you have unpleasant physical and/or psychological withdrawal symptoms) or if you stop and then relapse. — Chris Prentiss

What determines each person's state of happiness or unhappiness is not the event itself, but what the event means to that person. — Chris Prentiss

The answers are never 'out there. ' All the answers are 'in there, ' inside you, waiting to be discovered. — Chris Prentiss

At the bottom of every person's dependency, there is always pain, Discovering the pain and healing it is an essential step in ending dependency. — Chris Prentiss

Your life today is the result of a series of decisions you made that have caused you to arrive where you are. — Chris Prentiss

People who believe they have bad luck create bad luck. Those who believe they are very fortunate, that the world is a generous place filled with trustworthy people, live in exactly that kind of world. — Chris Prentiss

Choose to feel happy about whatever the situation is, knowing it will ultimately be to our benefit. — Chris Prentiss

Alcohol and drugs are not the problems; they are what people are using to help themselves cope with the problems. Those problems always have both physical and psychological components- anything from anemia, hypoglycemia, or a sluggish thyroid to attention deficient disorder, brain-wave pattern imbalances, or deep emotional pain. — Chris Prentiss

Trustworthy partners always think first before they do anything that may affect either the reputation or well-being of each other. — Chris Prentiss

There is only one way to achieve lasting happiness. That is simply: Be happy. — Chris Prentiss

You are not an alcoholic or an addict. You are not incurably diseased. You have merely become dependent on substances or addictive behavior to cope with underlying conditions that you are now going to heal, at which time your dependency will cease completely and forever. — Chris Prentiss

You can be happy if you are willing to let go of your past and leave yourself unencumbered so you can fly freely. — Chris Prentiss

You don't need to be a scientist to know how powerful your imagination is. — Chris Prentiss

When a problem or a difficult situation arises, say to yourself, as if you already believe it: "This is for my benefit. — Chris Prentiss

You use your brain much as you would use a radio crystal; you tune in different frequencies. — Chris Prentiss

Most of the time, we respond to life without taking a moment — Chris Prentiss

The word Universe is made up of two Latin words- uni (meaning "one") and versus (meaning "turned into"). It literally means "one turned into. — Chris Prentiss

Depression can be due to a low endocrine function, nutritional deficiencies, blood sugar problems, food allergies, or systemic yeast infection. Depression can also result from medical illnesses such as stroke, heart attack, cancer, Parkinson's disease, and hormonal disorder. It can also be caused by a serious loss, a difficult relationship, a financial problem, or any stressful, unwelcome life change. — Chris Prentiss

At the alpha level, your imagination acts powerfully on your subconsciousness mind and therefore your imaginings are powerfully effective in producing the desired result. It is believed that our subconscious mind represents nearly 90 percent of our mental capacity, which is why influencing your subconscious mind produces such powerful effects. — Chris Prentiss

Happiness comes from our response to the conditions of our lives. — Chris Prentiss