Fr. Anthony DeMello was jesuit priest who wrote a lot of spiritual books before his unexpected death at an early age. Most of his spiritual insights were focused on the mystical traditions of the East. One of his
books is entitled "One  Minute Wisdom" which he wrote back in 1985. Here are a few excerpts that are thought provoking.

Destiny:  To a woman who complained about her destiny as a woman, the master said, "It is you who make your destiny.

" But surely, I am not responsible from being born a woman?"

"Being born a woman isn't destiny.That is fate. Destiny is how you accept your womanhood and what you make of it."

Autonomy. The master seemed quite impervious to what people thought of him.  When the disciples asked how he had obtained this stage of inner freedom, he laughed and said,"until I was twenty I did not care what people thought of me. After twenty I worried endlessly about what my neighbors thought. Then one day after fifty I suddenly saw that they hardly ever thought of me at all."

Concealment  The master once told the story of a priceless empty bowl that fetched a fortune at a public auction. It had been used by a tramp who ended his days in poverty, quite unaware  of the value of the bowl with which he begged for pennies. When a disciple asked the master what Whe bowl stood for, the master said "yourself." asked to elaborate, he said, " All your attention is focused on the penny knowledge you collect from books and teachers.  You would do better to pay attention to the bowl in which you hold it."

Manifestation   When a new disciple came to the master, this is the catechism he was usually subjected him to: "Do you know the one person who will never abandon you in the whole of your lifetime?"

"Who is it?'  "You"

"And do you know the answer to every question you may have?" "What is it?" "You"

"And can you guess the solution to every one of your problems?" "I give up" "You "

Serenity  the master was asked "Are there ways for gouging ones spiritual strength?" "Many" "Give us one" "Find out how often you are disturbed in the course of a single day."