***

We are not accustomed to thanking the Lord, we do not think about how many mercies the Lord pours out on us every day and hour, and therefore we murmur about our fate, we do not reconcile ourselves to our situation, we complain about our hard, sorrowful life.

***

As I succumb to grandeur, exaltation, self-glorification: so the thought creeps towards this! For God's sake, watch yourself vigilantly, reproach yourself, punish yourself, scourge yourself. Set yourself the following task: I must at all costs get rid of this deficiency - and so, remembering this, constantly stop yourself, constantly confess it; in short, do not let yourself rest for a minute. Always repeat to yourself: "What a majestic Pharisee I am!" Deliver me, O Lord, from this unfortunate defect.

***

Women and maidens! You like to pour perfumes and fragrant substances over yourself. See to it that your inner being is also fragrant with purity. Otherwise, what a terrible discrepancy can result: on the outside you will emit a fragrance, but inside you will be stinking, ugly, dirty, unclean, filthy, depraved; What will be the meaning of your perfume then? From the fragrance of the outward to the inward fragrance: be the fragrance of Christ to God (cf. Corinthians 2:15).

***

We must zealously guard our love for the Lord and beware in every possible way, lest anything tear us away from the fullness of our love for the Lord God: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind (Matt. 22:37).

***

Bodily feats, if they are accompanied by fatigue that has a harmful effect on our inner mood, must be moderated, and in general we must try to have the spirit rule over everything, to be the motive force in our striving towards the Lord: do not weaken in zeal; burn with the Spirit (Romans 12:11).

***

It is good to maintain a humble opinion of ourselves through constant remembrance of our former sinful life and our present constant shortcomings, infirmities and sins. However, your shortcomings and imperfections are not clear to you – reproduce in your memory the Sermon on the Mount of the Saviour, remember the lives of ascetics, pay attention to the merits of other people, and you will see that you have nothing to boast of, except, as the holy Apostle Paul says, "your infirmities" (2 Corinthians 11:30).

***

Try to position your inner self in such a way that when you are praised or blamed, you would be indifferent, indifferent, calm: as if it does not apply to you, does not concern you.