The Inner Work: An Invitation to True Freedom and Lasting Happiness
by Mathew Micheletti
28 popular highlights from this book
Key Insights & Memorable Quotes
Below are the most popular and impactful highlights and quotes from The Inner Work: An Invitation to True Freedom and Lasting Happiness:
“Be happy for no reason, like a child. If you are happy for a reason, you’re in trouble, because that reason can be taken from you.” - Dr. Deepak Chopra”
“I take accountability for myself. Accountability is my greatest strength. There is no competition. I don't have to prove anything. I am humble. My life is a gift. All progress is a gift. I face my insecurities with courage. My vulnerability is powerful. There is enough for everyone. Others do not need to lose in order for me to win. We can all win. My way is just one way. I don't always need to be right. I am happy for others. I celebrate the success of others. I empower others. I enjoy others’ victories. I use my abilities and talents to support and serve others. I do not need to earn love. I am innately loved. I give love to others. Love is my natural, effortless state. There is no shortage or lack of love. I build others up.”
“You will never be free until you free yourself from the prison of your own false thoughts.” - Philip Arnold”
“The hero’s journey is inside of you; tear off the veils and open the mystery of yourself.”
“Don’t let your ego choose the station anymore. The first step to reclaiming your power to consciously respond is to develop awareness”
“Happiness is not something that can be attained through ideal conditions nor in the escaping of obligations. But rather, happiness is something that we become through the transformation of our consciousness. The desire to get someplace else will only keep us stuck in a perpetual cycle of wanting happiness rather than actualizing it.”
“We must be willing to let go of the life we planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.” - Joseph Campbell”
“True freedom and lasting happiness are realized through the internal transcendence of wounded themes of consciousness.”
“spent in states of gratitude, love, ease, and trust, the neuron connections for them get stronger as well, and the old pathways begin weakening. Thus through the same processes of expectancy and conscious awareness of which thoughts and emotions we are allowing ourselves to indulge in, we can make happiness a natural, habitual response to life—our original, pure state.”
“It is important to address any wounds of rejection we may be holding onto, no matter how insignificant we may feel they are, because the energy of shame is like a festering sore which slowly decays the soul if left unhealed.”
“Trigger: Competitiveness is arising. Root Program Belief: I believe I am not liked or loved unless I prove my worth. I felt inferior when I lost, or was overlooked in the past, and now I am assuming that if I am not the best, or a “winner,” I will not be loved. Theme of Consciousness: This must be coming from insecurity. New Narrative: I am always loved unconditionally. There is enough love and happiness for everyone. There is no actual competition to be me. I have nothing to prove. I do not need to earn love, for I am innately loved. Love is my natural, effortless state and is within me.”
“Trigger: Anxiety is arising. Root Program Belief: I believe the worst case scenario is going to happen to me. I’ve been hurt in the past and now I’m assuming I’ll keep getting hurt. Theme of Consciousness: This must be coming from distrust. New Narrative: It is also possible the best case scenario will happen. My past does not define me. I will always be okay and am being guided. All perceived setbacks are actually working out for my benefit in the long run. I trust and believe in the goodness of life. Anything is possible for me.”
“The inner narrative changes from, “This is so embarrassing, I am so embarrassing,” to “a feeling of embarrassment is coming up, but I choose peace. I am loved as I am. I can never be embarrassed and am always doing the best I can. I am perfect, whole, and complete. I embrace myself and love myself. Anyone's opinion of me has nothing to actually do with me.”
“Everything that irritates us about others, can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.” - Carl Jung”
“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do, are in harmony.” - Mahatma Ghandi”
“The most important realization of The Inner Work is that the source of our dissatisfaction is the mind’s internal dialogue, not the subject of its complaints. Change is terrifying to the untamed mind. Even when exposed to true happiness through witnessing it in others, it will reject it outright through denial or projection. Most minds are actually very suspicious of someone emulating genuine innocence, unconditional love, and inner peace. Seeing someone else shine their light unapologetically can really trigger an insecure mind.”
“Circumstances inevitably change, people let us down, obligations arise, challenges surface, and life doesn’t always go the way we planned. We innocently believe that when we arrive at happiness, we will finally be able to escape these daily struggles. But without actually healing the root of our dissatisfaction with life and evolving our consciousness, our problems will only continue to resurface again in new forms, no matter where we go or what we do.”
“The inner dialogue goes on constantly and attempts to narrate every single moment of your life, whether you want to hear it or not. It rambles on naming things, creating assumptions, and giving its opinion, moment after moment, all to provide itself with a false sense of security.”
“The first spiritual trap is to perceive your happiness as outside of yourself.” - Dr. David R. Hawkins”
“The desire to know your own soul will end all other desires.”
“The first thing to note when looking at the themes of consciousness is that the wound of rejection represents the most cut off from our true Self, whereas true freedom and lasting happiness represent the most unified and Self-realized. Put another way, rejection represents the most lacking, suffering-filled, and painful frequency we could experience, while the theme of true freedom and lasting happiness represents the release of all suffering, making it the most joyful and liberating frequency we could embody. Therefore we could think of the themes of consciousness as an evolution of lovingness and reflective of degrees of happiness and inner freedom. Most of us will find that we are on a spectrum of consciousness and will have some unhealed wounds still within us while also experiencing themes of healing and enlightenment from time to time. This is to be expected and part of being human. Our anatomy of consciousness is both unique to us and ever fluctuating as we are all energetic beings constantly navigating and responding to the various frequencies we encounter throughout our lives.”
“in and our chosen response to our life’s circumstances.”
“However, both favorable and unfavorable emotions are neither the result of conditions or other people’s actions; they are the direct result of which theme of consciousness we are living”
“The first step is simply believing you are worthy of all which you are seeking.”
“Meditation is simply sitting with the intention of watching the mind. It is a great tool to develop acknowledgment of awareness and to access states of presence. In order to strengthen our ability to maintain awareness and presence, we simply practice the self-reflection exercise we did before. Gradually extending the time we can sit watching the mind and withdrawing attachment to it. Instead of attaching to thoughts as mine, we observe them impersonally. “A thought of shame arising. A feeling of fear coming up.” It all just is. Nothing to do, nothing to change, nothing to figure out. Just observe. We become the sky and stop identifying with the temporary, passing clouds in a sense.”
“If we place our happiness in desire, our happiness will always be one more thing away: one more accomplishment, one more dollar, one more milestone, one more sexual conquest, one more something.”
“There are only three simple steps to The Inner Work process that can be practiced throughout everyday moments: become aware of the trigger, connect them to a root program belief and theme of consciousness, then uproot and replace it with a new narrative of a higher perspective.”
“As time goes on, the free, happy, innocent child of bliss becomes buried deep underneath the layers of fear for so many years that even you forget your true identity. You’ve been wearing the protective layers for so long that you completely overlooked the fact that you could just take them all off at any point.”
