Quotes from Kevin Griffin

Seeing my children in the morning as they come down from their bedrooms makes my heart come alive. There's just no better moment in my day.

We are all the same. We have the same hopes, fears, strengths, and weaknesses.

When I'm really stressed emotionally, I say to myself that there's only so much I can do to change things. Life happens on life's terms. Then, I go for a run.

Happiness does not come from the things that we have but the abandoning of things that we cling to, by letting go of the attachments to things we don't want.

The spiritual experience isn't one of filling ourselves up— with either religious or intellectual beliefs—but of emptying ourselves so that we can experience what is, directly, unfiltered.

these words fit best my sense of a Higher Power: a vast, subtle energy pervading all things—a Great Spirit.

Learning to live with desire may be the single most important act for an alcoholic. Our relationship to pleasure and self-gratification was distorted, and until it becomes relatively balanced, we will suffer, just as the Buddha said.

Alcoholism is a disease of faith. Alcoholics often develop a cynical attitude toward life, not seeing anything to believe in. When you persistently feel the need to change your consciousness through drugs or booze, you are expressing a lack of trust in life itself. And, in some ways, you are expressing a lack of trust in yourself, in your ability to tolerate life undiluted, to find value in your own, unadulterated experience.

there's a certain wisdom in being skeptical. But we need to hold our skepticism lightly, with a willingness to explore before dismissing outright

Both ask you to look at the painful realities of life, to understand them, and to use this understanding as the foundation for developing peace, wisdom, faith, and compassion. Both systems culminate in an "awakening" or "enlightenment.

Mindfulness is fundamentally about being present for our life, for each moment in a wholehearted, nonreactive, inquisitive, and intuitive way.

The Buddha said everything starts with thoughts; that we speak and act based on thoughts; that our words and actions turn into habits—or addictions; and that those habits shape our character into something inflexible. So, he says, "Watch the thought and its ways with care, and let it spring from love born out of concern for all beings…. As the shadow follows the body, as we think, so we become." This

When I told one friend that I objected to the idea of "false gods," that I thought it was about "My God is better than your God," he told me that rather than taking the First Commandment literally—"Thou shalt have no other gods before me"—he found it to be a powerful image of his addiction. His false god was alcohol. He lived for that god, he "turned his will and his life over" to that god.

When we are numbed by the constant inflow of sense experiences that our culture provides, it can become hard to feel anything more than superficially.

When we think that we are separate, we put ourselves in constant conflict, trying to get ours, always in fear of losing what we have, alienating others whom we use for our selfish purposes, lying and cheating to make sure that we aren't left behind.

The spiritual experience isn't one of filling ourselves up— with either religious or intellectual beliefs—but of emptying ourselves so that we can experience what is, directly, unfiltered. This

Turning our will and our lives over to this power means living in accordance with what is true; it means acting out of compassion and kindness; pursuing our noblest goals; seeking truth in all things; it means striving for perfection of heart and mind while bowing to the truth of who we are, with all our imperfections and failings.

to counter negativity in the mind is a classical Buddhist teaching called "replacing with the opposite";

Sometimes we simply can't let go because we are so habituated to our fears, resentments, and grief.

Prayer: I turn my will and my life over to the Higher Power of Karma. I vow to live in harmony with the moral laws of the universe and to use the power of Karma to support my spiritual and worldly growth.