Dines Quotes & Sayings

Let's remind ourselves that to be compassionate and forgiving doesn't mean we are endorsing dysfunctional behaviour. On the contrary, it's essential the harm that was inflicted upon us is properly validated and grieved. Forgiveness isn't an intellectual concept or an airy-fairy idea. It's a painstaking process. To be compassionate and to forgive mean we are gradually letting go of poisonous, toxic feelings that are trapped in our minds and bodies. — Christopher Dines

When we truly forgive in our hearts, not only do we purify ourselves from the heavy burdens of negative karma but we begin to create a new space for positive energy to enter this world. When we forgive, we are no longer chained to the negative actions we have created in the past. — Christopher Dines

Ecstasy and bliss must come from within. — Christopher Dines

One awakens, one rises, one dresses, and one goes forth;
One returns, one dines, one sups, one retires and one sleeps. — Pierre-Antoine-Augustin De Piis

When life throws difficulties at us and the mind is restless, emotional resilience will see us through challenging times. We can work through tempestuous emotions and self-doubt and come through them unharmed and avoid self-sabotage and self-harm. — Christopher Dines

A cultivated reader of history is domesticated in all families; he dines with Pericles, and sups with Titian. — Robert Aris Willmott

It's important to be aware that many families are dysfunctional, but we can change the patterns. Even if a child grew up in an aggressive or addictive household, they can heal and move past that with immense emotional resilience, wisdom and gratitude. This is what recovery can offer anyone who, like you, is open-minded, willing and ready to explore self-awareness and take action. — Christopher Dines

Things sometimes go our way and sometimes they don't. All we can do is apply ourselves to our profession, giving our very best effort but emotionally letting go of the outcome. Why? Because if we obsess about an outcome, we cannot possibly honour the present moment. — Christopher Dines

Get rid of the idea that to own money or to be associated with it is "dirty" or "greedy" or "non-spiritual. — Christopher Dines

Orgasms are nice, but revolutions are better. — Gail Dines

To be self-compassionate is not to be self-indulgent or self-centred. A major component of self-compassion is to be kind to yourself. Treat yourself with love, care, dignity and make your wellbeing a priority. With self-compassion, we still hold ourselves accountable professionally and personally, but there are no toxic emotions inflicted upon and towards ourselves. — Christopher Dines

The borders between different countries are, in truth, not real. They are a by-product of the ego. — Christopher Dines

It was only when I started to reconnect with my inner child four years into recovery (I was over four years clean and sober off drugs and alcohol) and started to attend a love addiction support group that I was able to trust again and have faith that there are just as many honest and trustworthy women as there are women who are not interested in monogamy.
However, it was after ten years of continuous recovery that I started to really dig deep into my childhood grief work and was finally able to reclaim my inner child. I started to take risks again. On a practical level, you can't get very far in this world if you resent and distrust the opposite sex and, sadly, many men and women suffer in this area. Rather than celebrating the opposite sex, they fear them. Empathy and self-compassion has helped me in this area too. — Christopher Dines

You must learn to circulate success and have it working for you. — Christopher Dines

The more you genuinely praise people in your consciousness, the easier it is to tune into your own inner joy. — Christopher Dines

The Karpman drama triangle is a classic model of codependent behaviour. First of all, a codependent will rescue someone. Then, when their 'brave and charitable' work hasn't been acknowledged, they become very angry at the person they have attempted to rescue. And finally, they start to feel like a victim. They feel sorry for themselves and complain how the person they rescued never appreciated them. The important thing to learn here is that if a person wants to change, it's because they have made a decision to do so. — Christopher Dines

Someone who has a poverty consciousness, which is a mental disease, can change their habitual way of thinking if they are determined to do so and will take action. — Christopher Dines

The incredible benefits of practising and applying mindfulness and self-compassion in the workplace are being increasingly recognised by human resource professionals as well as the medical profession, as the stresses of competing in today's global economy take their toll on the mental health and emotional wellbeing of many otherwise talented and enthusiastic individuals in the workplace. — Christopher Dines

Happiness is our natural state of being that cannot be found in anything external. — Christopher Dines

You can create a harmonious attitude by simply being. — Christopher Dines

What, did you not know, then, that to-day Lucullus dines with Lucullus? — Plutarch

Your state of consciousness, right now, will determine what you manifest in the future. — Christopher Dines

When we observe the flow of our breathing, we transcend our thoughts and are able to bring mind and body into harmony with each other. Thus, we create calm. — Christopher Dines

We are essentially pure consciousness, which perceives the material universe through our own awareness. — Christopher Dines

Isms' are described as transference of addictive patterns of dysfunctional behaviour, passed down from generation to generation. For instance, if a mother was an alcoholic who never made it into recovery, her behaviour would leave a mark on her children, husband, etc. Unless her adult children join some sort of recovery programme and adopt the mindfulness practice, they will have very similar behaviour traits to their mother but minus the alcohol abuse. There is a strong possibility that they will become codependent and form relationships with other codependents or alcoholics. — Christopher Dines

Pride that dines on vanity, sups on contempt. — Benjamin Franklin

One of the greatest challenges facing humanity is that of being able to live with one another in a peaceful and civilized way. We all have our individual uniqueness and perceptions of how we believe the world ought to function. This creates conflict unless there is a deeper realization in the collective consciousness and an understanding that most human desires desecrate the beauty of the nowness of life. — Christopher Dines

By all means play the game of life, create new visions and have fun but do not identify yourself with your vision. — Christopher Dines

The evidence of grave emotional and mental suffering is clear to see in the growing number of mental health units, "re-habs" and overflowing psychiatric wards as people try to find relief in compulsive drinking, drug abuse, gambling, over-eating, under-eating, chasing prestige, hoarding money, "retail therapy" and over-indulging in pornography and sex. — Christopher Dines

Body scan meditation is mentally scanning through each part of the body with presence. It helps us be one with the body. Thus, we can feel if we are holding on to any tension or heaviness or any static emotions. And by doing so, we can find relief and internal freedom. — Christopher Dines

The truth is that unless you feel worthy of your highest vision then you cannot possibly experience it. You must become aware that you are worthy. — Christopher Dines

Mindfulness (present-moment awareness) is deliberately focusing our attention on our thoughts, emotions, feelings, sensations and mental activity without losing awareness of what is happening in the present moment. It is essentially being in a state of present-moment awareness and maintaining clarity without being swayed or distracted by mental commentary. — Christopher Dines

We are not going through an "economy crisis"; we are going through a "spiritual transition". On a deeper level, the collective conscious of humanity is awakening. — Christopher Dines

The enlightened question to ask in any relationship is, what can I give rather than what can I get? — Christopher Dines

Images today have now become so extreme that what used to be considered hardcore is now mainstream pornography. — Gail Dines

When you can begin to see the similarities between you and your work colleagues in respect of 'being human' and the collective challenges we all face, it makes life much easier to deal with, especially when met with overbearing behaviour. — Christopher Dines

Unhappiness is a warped and distorted perception of reality. When a man says he is unhappy with his life and gives a written list of why he is dissatisfied, he has given a frank account of the state of his mind. If his mind is neglected and starved from stillness of thought, the nature of his thinking will reflect turbulence, anxiety and a lack of fulfilment.
However, when he is able to transcend thought, by being the observer (the witness) of his thinking and can take control of his mind, tranquility begins to flow through him. He is no longer a slave to his mental concepts, distinctions and limiting beliefs. — Christopher Dines

It is impossible to control outcomes or results, although most of us have been programmed from a very young age to believe otherwise. The idea that we can perform actual 'magic' causes tremendous dysfunction, unnecessary suffering and prevents the development of emotional resilience. — Christopher Dines

The process of recovering from addictiveness happens at a deeper level of consciousness and through feeling our pain without using old addictive fixes. There is no escaping that getting in touch with our original pain is the touchstone to mental, emotional and spiritual wellbeing. — Christopher Dines

Needing nothing gives you everything. — Christopher Dines

Inner rage is a phenomenally dense frequency that lies dormant in the vast majority of the human species. — Christopher Dines

That Hitchens represents a grievous loss to the left is beyond doubt. He is a superb writer, superior in wit and elegance to his hero George Orwell, and an unstanchably eloquent speaker. He has an insatiable curiosity about the modern world and an encyclopaedic knowledge of it, as well as an unflagging fascination with himself. Through getting to know all the right people, an instinct as inbuilt as his pancreas, he could tell you without missing a beat whom best to consult in Rabat about education policy in the Atlas Mountains. The same instinct leads to chummy lunches with Bill Deedes and Peregrine Worsthorne. In his younger days, he was not averse to dining with repulsive fat cats while giving them a piece of his political mind. Nowadays, one imagines, he just dines with repulsive fat cats. — Terry Eagleton

Pure consciousness expresses itself in millions of different forms but the root of consciousness is what we call Being, The Light, Universal Life, Spirit, I Am or God. — Christopher Dines

The most fascinating revelation is that humanity can tune into a consistently higher frequency through the power of peace and inner stillness. — Christopher Dines

The key to accessing love, joy, peace and compassion is to be free from the dominant state of compulsive thinking. Once we are able to flow into mindfulness and still our thoughts, happiness manifests. — Christopher Dines

A Child will make two Dishes at an Entertainment for Friends; and when the Family dines alone, the fore or hind Quarter will makea reasonable Dish; and seasoned with a little Pepper or Salt, will be very good Boiled on the fourth Day, especially in Winter. — Jonathan Swift

Through practising body scan awareness meditation, we can greatly reduce the detrimental effects of stress and make our working lives pleasant and enjoyable. — Christopher Dines

I don't think I've ever met an addict in long-term recovery who hasn't gone through at least one traumatic childhood experience. Research indicates that one traumatic event in childhood is as grave as continuous combat in a war zone. A traumatic event during childhood can leave a grave imprint on the human body. — Christopher Dines

Feeling as though you need nothing will speed up the process of manifesting your dream and will increase your belief. — Christopher Dines

When we make a decision to honour our inner peace and allow it to blossom, we feel drawn to create peace in our external environment. — Christopher Dines

The process of creating your dream ought to be playful, mixing and channelling your inspirational thoughts and intuitive feelings into manifesting your dream. — Christopher Dines

The human brain is incredible in its capacity to heal and rewire itself. The human brain can be shaped and trained to be more resilient, calm, compassionate and alert - we can condition ourselves to be successful. Through mindfulness meditation, we can literally re-wire our brains through new experiences, which modify our neural network and our neural chemistry. Mindfulness also enhances gamma synchrony and improves the function of the human brain. — Christopher Dines

Failure to put faith into action is one of the main causes of people's dreams coming to nothing. — Christopher Dines

Bad people aren't happy ... Wickedness often wears fancy clothes, dines on rich food, has money, controls armies, rules nations ... but it never seems to know joy. Peace, laughter, trust, ease: these things flee from wickedness like sparrows from the shadow of a hawk. — Sonya Hartnett

Many of us have been unconsciously programmed to treat walking as a means to an end, especially while in the workplace. Naturally, a lack of mindfulness while walking leaves one hostage to self-perpetuating stress and anxiety.
We rush (often while shouting into a mobile phone), completely missing the enjoyment of walking. Walking and breathing, if practised harmoniously, can be peaceful and thoroughly enjoyable. Even walking down a corridor or into an office or wherever we are working or being of service can be a harmonious action. — Christopher Dines

Healthy and non-shaming mirroring is an important part of the process. We can gain this from a highly emotionally intelligent and effective peer group that has our best interests at heart. — Christopher Dines

A great man scarcely knows how he dines, how he dresses; but without railing or precision, his living is natural and poetic. — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Gratitude can help you stay in the present moment. — Christopher Dines

When you follow your heart, you will be in harmony with your Soul and of course, the universe. If, however, you dismiss your heart's dreams, there is a strong likelihood that you will be resigning yourself to leading a very incomplete and discontented existence no matter how much or how little you earn. — Christopher Dines

A worthy prayer is a deliberate intention which has been guided by your heart. — Christopher Dines

Do not put up with mean people who discourage your laughter. — Jim Dines

Inner peace and inner bliss are eternal dimensions deep within which we can experience anytime we are prepared to surrender and accept life exactly how it is. — Christopher Dines

If you want success then decide to provide a great service to the world. Do not think how you will survive. Think of how you can serve. — Christopher Dines

Once we stop "searching" for joyful feelings in people and things, no matter what polarity the external world brings us (positive or negative), we can still be aware of the inner peace that resides in our consciousness. — Christopher Dines

When you try to force your dream to "happen faster" you will only create fear and thus, resistance. As you try to force it you are actually sending energy into the universe that "you are not in reach of your dream and it's not coming fast enough". This will then create frustrations and anxiety. The universe will respond to your emotional state and give you like energy (more experiences to create fear and anxiety). — Christopher Dines

Take adultery or theft.
Merely sins.
It is evil who dines on the soul,
stretching out its long bone tongue.
It is evil who tweezers my heart,
picking out its atomic worms. — Anne Sexton

It will be increasingly difficult to be of maximum service to the world if we cannot or will not be open-minded and understanding towards people who might "appear" to be different from ourselves. When we can love someone who is not like us, we are living mindfully. — Christopher Dines

Everything in the world that we perceive is an expression of the mind. — Christopher Dines

Think of an untreated sex addict who spends hours every night until the early hours watching pornography on the internet instead of spending that time with their wife or husband, and then becomes so tired due to the late nights that their professional life suffers. The sex addict's behaviour will cause resentment, destroy trust and create economic insecurities in the family and home. — Christopher Dines

The most efficient way to transcend unsettling thoughts is through the life breath. When we bring our full attention to the life breath, it becomes a gateway to access a deeper and higher level of awareness. — Christopher Dines

A strong Protectionist, believes
In everything but Heaven.
For entertainment, dines, receives,
Unmarried, 57. — Hilaire Belloc

The rich man dines, while the poor man pines,
And eats his heart away;
'They teach us lies,' he sternly cries,
'Would BROTHERS do as they?'
The Dream. — Elizabeth Gaskell

Human beings have always yearned for serenity and inner peace. — Christopher Dines

Most human beings wish to be happy and healthy. This universal realization is painfully obvious and yet is overlooked due to its simplicity. We all naturally desire to feel free on all levels: mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually. We wish to feel joyful, abundant, serene and blissful. This desire is ultimately grounded in a higher human nature. — Christopher Dines

Porn is now so deeply embedded in our culture that it has become synonymous with sex to such a point that to criticize porn is to get slapped with the label anti-sex.
...
But what if you are a feminist who is pro-sex in the real sense of the word, pro that wonderful, fun, and deliciously creative force that bathes the body in delight and pleasure, and what you are actually against is porn sex? A kind of sex that is debased, dehumanized, formulaic, and generic, a kind of sex not based on individual fantasy, play, or imagination, but one that is the result of an industrial product created by those who get excited not by bodily contact but by market penetration and profits? Where, then, do you fit in the pro-sex, anti-sex dichotomy when pro-porn equals pro-sex? — Gail Dines

Pornography is to sex what McDonalds is to food. A plasticized, generic version of the real thing. — Gail Dines

Remember that success and prosperity come to those who are doing what they love. Success is the shadow of Love. — Christopher Dines

Stress, burnout and strain on the human heart are all increasingly taking their toll for millions of hardworking people. However, even someone who is working in a job that simply 'pays the bills' can turn mundane and stressful tasks into pleasant activities with a slight adjustment in attitude and by adopting a daily mindful practice. — Christopher Dines

When the weeks have built up with frustration and immense stress and one of your co-workers, a manager or an employee triggers irritation or angers you, knowing how to respond in a mindful way can pay huge dividends. Knowing how to not take other people's emotional baggage personally and intuitively sensing when to bring up concerns and when not to is an expression of emotional intelligence. This is all possible if we are being truly mindful. — Christopher Dines

The more positive action you take grounded in presence (stillness), the more effective you will become in your line of duty, work or social life. — Christopher Dines

There must be intelligence applied with enthusiasm otherwise you are leaving yourself open to blind faith. — Christopher Dines

Through mindfully practising love and compassion we are able to heal our hearts and minds from our hurt and suffering, thus bringing harmony into this world. The more we are open to love, the easier it is to share kindness with all living creatures. — Christopher Dines

Anxiety and stress-related mental dysfunction is the plague of modern-day society. Millions of people are tormented by anxious thinking and the consequent distress this brings, irrespective of whether they live in a mansion or a bed-sit or whether they earn millions or are living on the breadline. This would indicate that external circumstances cannot prevent or cause pathological anxiety or free people from negative emotions. — Christopher Dines

Hee that dines and leaves, layes the cloth twice. — George Herbert

Aristotle dines when it seems good to King Philip, but Diogenes when he himself pleases. — Diogenes

Tragically, because many addicts are not given sufficient love, nurturing and non-shaming dialogue at crucial stages in their early emotional development, they are on a quest to find contentment from a source outside of themselves.
Their parents might have provided bountifully for them; however, their parents were never fully emotionally present while parenting, which made their children feel starved of emotional nourishment. — Christopher Dines

He rides in the row at ten o clock in the morning, goes to the Opera three times a week, changes his clothes at least five times a day, and dines out every night of the season. You don't call that leading an idle life, do you? — Oscar Wilde

The King of Abyssinia always dines alone. — Ernest Crawley

When we practise self-compassion, we look after ourselves just as though we are nurturing a small child. In fact, a major part of grieving our original pain work (so that we can heal and be emotionally liberated) is to re-parent ourselves and reconnect with our inner child.

This is what the author, John Bradshaw, meant by 'reclaiming our inner child'. In recovery, we can begin to nurture our inner child and connect deeply with our heart and spirit. — Christopher Dines

Learning to practise mindfulness greatly enhances our ability to manifest emotional intelligence and equanimity under pressure and to display calmness, empathy and adaptability when communicating with others, whether it be with co-workers, clients or the board of directors. Learning to apply mindfulness on a daily basis will significantly encourage a positive, creative and enthusiastic attitude at all levels in companies large and small. — Christopher Dines

When a human being has been taken over by their inner rage it can be very distressing for those around them and unless they are able to remain calm, present and conscious, their inner rage will also be ignited with sometimes devastating results. — Christopher Dines

Mindfulness does not erase negative memories; it 'transcends' them giving us back our deepest power which resides in our hearts. — Christopher Dines

Mental stories can literally spoil a human life. It took me a long time to become aware of my mental commentary, such as: "Everything always goes wrong", "I won't be accepted", "I'm a failure" or "What's the point?" Those fears were deep-rooted and triggered many upsetting addictive patterns of behaviour — Christopher Dines

The next time you have any disempowering thoughts, quickly expel them. — Christopher Dines

Scores of high-powered men and women are addicted to substances or destructive addictive patterns of behaviour. As a matter of fact, it is easier to hide one's addiction while maintaining a high-powered position compared to the addicts and alcoholics we see sleeping on street corners. — Christopher Dines

If you want success the you must become aware of the cause of success. — Christopher Dines

If we are continuing to attract partners that are emotionally unavailable, then it's essential that we observe our own addictive patterns rather than focusing on theirs. — Christopher Dines

Capitalism grants you no limits in how much you can grow and expand your services. — Christopher Dines

When you are living in the present moment, you will experience a deep sense of inner joy, peace and awareness. — Christopher Dines

Whether someone is a CEO of a major corporation or is serving meals in a diner, failure to adopt a mindful approach will mean that mental and emotional exhaustion could become a habitual condition. Whether someone is stressed about their stocks losing value or being able to pay their bills, the internal underlying conditions of stress and pressure are essentially the same. — Christopher Dines