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Dennis Merritt Jones

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Consciousness & Mindful Living Expert

Dennis Merritt Jones

Dennis Merritt Jones Quick Facts

Main Areas
Spirituality and mindful living
Career Focus
Author, Keynote Speaker, Mentor, Consultant
Affiliation
Centers for Spiritual Living

Throughout his lifetime, Dennis Merritt Jones has been on a quest to inspire and lift people to a higher expression of life. His personal vision is to guide people to their purpose, knowing that when a person fully awakens to who they are and why they are on the planet, they begin to naturally share their gift with humankind and, in the process, create an enriching life for themselves and the world around them.

Dennisʼ most recent book, The Art of Uncertainty ~ How to Live in the Mystery of Life and Love It ~ was released by Tarcher/Penguin on June 9, 2011. In addition, Dennis is the award winning author of The Art of Being ~ 101 Ways to Practice Purpose in Your Life, also released by Tarcher/Penguin Publishing. The Art of Being received the Nautilus Gold Award designed to highlight books that offer new ideas and options for a better world for everyone. The Art of Being was also a Silver Finalist in the Multiple Sclerosis Society Books for a Better Life Awards. Study Guides are available for both books as a free download at Dennisʼ website: www.DennisMerrittJones.com.

Dennis believes we each have the capacity and, ultimately, the responsibility to contribute something positive to this world, leaving it a better place than it was when we arrived. His teachings promote a contemporary, life-affirming, spiritually logical and positive outlook on life, which are reï¬ected in his writings.

Dennis is a universal speaker who is equally comfortable speaking to an audience seeking spiritual inspiration or to those seeking a purely secular motivational message. He uses his understanding of universal principles to draw upon wisdom from both eastern and western philosophies. Dennis believes that there is a new consciousness of unity, cooperation and reverence rising in humankind where the value of all life is considered sacred. He believes this consciousness of unity, cooperation and reverence for life and the planet will be one of the most signiï¬cant influences upon society as we approach the challenges of 21st century living.

Dennis was the founder and spiritual director of the International Center for Spiritual Living in Simi Valley, CA. Dennis retired from the pulpit in 2008 to take is message to the world by means of his books, sacred jou eys travel, spiritual mentoring, keynote speaking and seminars.

For more information, please contact Diane@DennisMerrittJones.com.

Free Audio & Video Samples

Free to Be - Guided meditations on "Purpose & Forgivness

http://www.dennismerrittjones.com/store.php

Awakening - Chants

http://www.dennismerrittjones.com/store.php

Dennis Merritt Jones Books

The Art of Being - 101 Ways to Practice Purpose in Your Life

http://www.amazon.com/Art-Being-Ways-Practice-Purpose/dp/1585427063/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b

The Art of Uncertainty - How to Live in the Mystery of Life and Love It.

http://www.amazon.com/Art-Uncertainty-Live-Mystery-Life/dp/1585428728/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1300462422&sr=1-1

How To Speak Science of Mind

http://www.amazon.com/How-Speak-Science-Mind-Practical/dp/0875168582/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_c

Articles by this expert

SelfGrowth articles and saved writing connected to this expert.

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Article

Compassion: The Bridge Between Our Hearts

“The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness of the interdependence of all these living beings, which are all part of one another, and all involved in one another.” ~ Thomas Merton What words can possibly be spoken to address the unspeakable. The January 11, 2010, magnitude 7.0 earthquake in Haiti has left most of the world at a loss for words. Natural calamities like this are never easy to understand. How is it that life and the universe can appear so beautiful one moment and so brutal the next? Yet, life will go on as it has for millennia.

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Music Speaks Louder Than Words

“Music is the universal language, and love is the key To peace hope and understanding, and living in harmony..." ~ Mac Davis When Mac Davis penned the above lyrics for his 1970's classic pop song, I Believe In Music, he was expressing in song what just about every musician of the time was feeling when they sang or played an instrument.

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Friend-ship Is A Vessel...

“If I had the chance to live my life over, I’d do things a little different...I’d have more friends.” ~ Ty Cobb Like many others who spend more than a little time on the computer, I’ve also been pulled into the vortex of the Facebook phenomena. Facebook, as an online social networking website, ...

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Time Bandits

“A great deal of what people say, think, or do is actually motivated by fear, which of course is always linked with having your focus on the future and being out of touch with the Now. As there are no problems in the Now, there is no fear either.” - Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now How in touch ...

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Being Impeccable In Our Word --It's A Matter Of Integrity

“Be impeccable with your word. Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.” ~ Don Miguel Ruiz While sitting in a restaurant today I had a ...

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Compassion: Together, With Feeling

“When we generate compassion for the difficult people in our lives, we get to see our prejudices and aversions even more clearly. It can feel completely unreasonable to make compassionate a wish for these irritating, belligerent people. To wish that those we dislike and fear would not suffer can ...

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Seek The Power In Your Problems

"Happiness requires problems" ~ H. L. Hollingworth She must have thought I had gone a bit batty when I smiled like the Cheshire Cat and congratulated her for the painful relationship problem for which she had come to me for spiritual mentoring. I told her she could actually celebrate her ...

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The Times Really Are A-Changin. Are You?

Come gather 'round people Wherever you roam And admit that the watersn
Around you have grown And accept it that soon You'll be drenched to the bone. If your time
To you is worth savin' Then you better start swimmin' Or you'll sink like ...

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You Can't Force An Apple to Grow!

YOU CAN’T FORCE AN APPLE TO GROW By Dr. Dennis Merrit Jonesnn“Make a commitment to follow the path of no resistance. This is the path through which nature’s intelligence unfolds spontaneously, without friction or effort. When you have the exquisite combination of acceptance, responsibility and ...

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Websites & resources

SelfGrowth-published websites, downloads, and contributor profile websites connected to this expert.

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Website

Dennis Merritt Jones

Author, Spiritual Mentor, Keynote, Seminars: NEW BOOK - THE ART OF BEING, 101 Ways To Practice Purpose In Your Life

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Favorite Quotes & Thoughts from Dennis Merritt Jones

QUOTES FROM: "THE ART OF UNCERTAINTY"

"On the day we are born we enter the Earth School, as my friend Gary Zukav refers to it, not knowing a thing. The soul may come overflowing with wisdom accumulated along the ete al jou ey but the intellect is a blank slate. As we mature, chronologically and emotionally, advancing in our understanding of the "rules" of living in a human skin, the message we are given is that the more we grow, the more we need to know. It is only through this process that we can move forward in life."
"There is much comfort to be found in the confines of a box when we know where the edges are. But, there is certainly no growth, no evolution, and no deepening of our spiritual nature within that box. There can also be no doubt that this attachment to the known is what keeps many of us from creating the life we truly desire."
"If we use only our past as a reference point for our future, we just create more of what we have already created, another version of the same thing. And today, more than ever, we know that much of what has worked in the past won't work anymore."
"We were born to be free, to expand our horizons by going where we have never gone before, and not to hang out in the relative comfort and safety of the nest, the known. There is a place within us that is courageous beyond our human understanding; it yearns to explore beyond the boundaries of our daily life."
"Why do we resist the mystery that change brings? When we get too rigid and inflexible, rigor mortis of the soul sets in. For proof of this, we need look no further than to those who choose to stay in a relationship or job long after the soul, or life force, that originally brought it passion and joy has vacated the premises."

"As we begin our sojou into the mystery of uncertainty we will be reminded rather quickly that nothing triggers fear of the unknown faster than that which we cannot see--our minds do a marvelous job of running ahead of us in the apparent darkness, creating all sorts of scary diversions and reasons for not moving forward."

QUOTES FROM "THE ART OF BEING"

"Life really is a stream into which we pour our beliefs, and all of those who come after us will be the direct beneficiaries of what we believe. The great thing is that with this awareness comes choice! As we awaken to the fact that we don’t necessarily have to pass on beliefs that have not served us or others well, we can choose to eliminate them from the legacy we pass on."
"The need for approval can be an interesting trap; if we are not careful, it can woo us into compromising our integrity. When that happens, it usually spills over into many different areas of our life. Then what do we really have left except a life that is lived in the darkened shadows of our own self-doubt and diminished self-respect?"
"What I have discovered is that what I expect from others is what I get. People generally live up to or down to the level that I expect. Why? Because the energy that I radiate (broadcast) can only draw to me more of the same, that’s why."
"Imagine a heartbeat monitor in the hospital that goes “beep . . . beep . . . beep” with that little blip on the screen that bounces up and down between two extremes. That’s a good sign! When it stops beeping and blipping, it’s not a good sign—a flatline indicates death. So it is with each of us on our jou ey through life. The ups and the downs in our life require forward movement on our part and can help us maintain our sense of being fully alive. We need the valleys as well as the peaks and plateaus in-between."
"You and I have each had a story or trauma drama that at some point helped define who we believed ourselves to be. What is the content and theme of your story? Has the victim been liberated from the bondage of the tale yet? Are you continuing to tell it long after the story ended? If we are not fully conscious, it’s easy to become mesmerized by our own story. If we tell it often enough, it really does take on a life of its own, and we end up believing it is the truth of who we are."
"We can revoke the permission we have given ourselves to think down rather than up at any time we choose, but it requires conscious intention. It’s about waking up and becoming aware of what thoughts are moving through our minds in every holy instant."
"When I say we can disidentify with the ego, I don’t mean we should deny it or try to exile it, because we need the ego-self in order to survive in the earth world—it’s part of who we are. We simply need to be clear enough to know that there is a larger part of who we are who can and should be in the driver’s seat, steering our thinking and actions in a manner that correlates more fully with what we really believe."
"If you can, imagine God as a mountain, and at the top lies the full experience of union with the infinite. Now imagine many villages surrounding the mountain at its base, each with its own unique pathway to the top of the mountain. Think of each village as a different religion. Is one pathway better than another path if they all take the devoted follower to the top? In a world with billions of people and thousands of religions, it is spiritual arrogance to say there is only one correct path."
"In Zen, there is an old saying: The obstacle is the path. Know that a whole and happy life is not free of obstacles. Quite the contrary, a whole and happy life is riddled with obstacles—they simply become the very stepping–stones that help lift us to a new perspective. It is not what happens to us in this life that shapes us, it is how we choose to respond to what happens to us."

Contacting Dennis Merritt Jones

www.DennisMerrittJones.com