Quotes from Gudjon Bergmann

Perfectionism is the enemy of the author. There is a difference between good writing habits and perfectionism. The author who displays good writing habits delivers on time. The aspiring author who is prone to perfectionism will likely never fin...

Although the repetition of a word or phrase is a preparatory practice and is itself not meditation, choosing a word or phrase that honors your belief system can be the linchpin you need for your mediation practice, providing both motivation and philosophical coherency.

Imagine a time before you had ever had chocolate. Going to lectures about chocolate would have been interesting. Reading about chocolate might have increased your appetite. But only tasting chocolate would have really made you understand how good chocolate can be. Only tasting— only experience.

We all want results and we want them fast. But, when practicing meditation, impatience is a hindrance.

Simplicity is everywhere in nature, and meditation is a natural state. Meditation is a state of peaceful equilibrium, the fourth state of consciousness, and is always available to every single human being.

We were the first latchkey-kid generation. Our parents believed in free love, and for many of us, that meant broken homes.

Self-confidence can be defined in two sentences. (1) I trust myself to face life's challenges and (2) I trust myself to follow my dreams and goals.

We were the neoromantic dance freaks of the eighties, proudly displaying our blow-dried mullets. Among us, you also found the stud-bracelet-wearing punk rockers with sky-high Mohawks. Pastel-colored, shoulder-padded fashion met ripped-jeans-and-leather-jacket anti-fashion.

In our youth, we may have ridiculed the cost-of-living-index family, with their house, two cars, and two kids, but today we are pro-family. We have seen the damage done by the previous generation and have doubled our efforts when it comes to caring for our families. Our children come first.

Meditation should be on the same list as brushing your teeth, sleeping and eating. Meditation is an addition to your routine, not a final goal to accomplish. Once meditation is in your routine, then your mind will feel fuzzy if you don't meditate, in the same way that your teeth feel fuzzy when you don't brush.

Of course, our roles within the family are radically different. Generational stereotypes of moms and dads have disintegrated A-bomb style. We are making it up as we go along, pioneering a new era of equality.

Goals and dreams are the entrepreneur's mental energy. However, the same goals and dreams that drive his behavior will also drive him to an early grave if he doesn't take care of his physical energy through a mix of exercise and relaxation. Energy manipulation is the ability to feed the mind with dreams and sustain the body so it will keep up with those dreams.

Self-confidence is not a fixed way of being. People are not born with certain levels of self-confidence, it can be acquired, and it can be lost.

Do your best to maintain an authentic style of writing. If you are a serious person, be serious. If you are a comic, be funny. Do not choose a style or a tone that is different from the person you really are.

We are known to be anti-authoritarian, anti-institutional, and notoriously anti-religious—more likely to quote Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Monty Python, or Star Trek than the Bible.

For more than twenty years, I have been seeking a way to be both rational and spiritual. I have been looking for a ray of hope in an otherwise-compartmentalized world in which people segregate religious aspirations and rationality in the hope of not having to resolve the glaring gap between the two. It's a gap that seems almost impossible to bridge, but I refuse to accept that disparity.

While having information is a crucial first step, more information isn´t necessarily better. Take a look at your bookshelves and the list of seminars you have attended. If you have read more than one book about a subject or attended more than one seminar but still haven't reached your goals, then your problem is not lack of information but rather lack of implementation.

our generation hasn't made any meaningful contribution to the field. We have promoted atheism, displayed agnosticism (which amounts to an ambiguous shoulder shrug), or, in most cases, been eerily silent.

Get to the point. Don't waste the reader's time.

I say we make our voices heard. For us, for our kids, I say that it is time to figure out a new approach to spirituality, one that honors rationality.

What is it about spirituality that doesn't resonate with our core value of being rational? What makes it so difficult for us to maintain our level-headed (and slightly jaded) mindset while being spiritual at the same time?

Write until you have nothing left to say and then stop writing. Focus on content and quality rather than word count.

no matter how liberal a church may seem, Christian dogma still revolves around an ancient, paternalistic image of God the Father, who quite frankly isn't much more believable than the Easter Bunny or Santa Claus.

Being a good parent is not an obligation, it is a choice. Plenty of people fall short in the parent category and quite a few refuse to accept it. You will do a much better job if you understand that taking care of your children is a choice not an obligation.