Mindfulness Quotes - Page 6

What's the difference between people who see and seek gaps and those that see and seek bridges? The first stops and stays on the side. The second, crosses and reaches new worlds.As soon as your mind identifies the bridge, the gap is gone...but the bridge was always there...you just had to see it.There are holes in the ground, yet a bridge (which is there, but may take time to see) filled it. That's where asking better questions comes in. Where is the bridge so I can cross? There is one. Believing there is a bridge from where you are to where you want to go is 99% of the battle. The other 1% is to cross it.But do I have to build the bridge? Maybe. But everything is first created in the mind and then in the world. The bridge is there. See it. Cross it.

The practice of peace and reconciliation is one of the most vital and artistic of human actions.

Thich Nhat Hanh

In us, there is a river of feelings, in which every drop of water is a different feeling, and each feeling relies on all the others for its existence. To observe it, we just sit on the bank of the river and identify each feeling as it surfaces, flows by, and disappears.

Thich Nhat Hanh

[T]he flower is made of non-flower elements. We can describe the flower as being full of everything. There is nothing that is not present in the flower. We see sunshine, we see the rain, we see clouds, we see the earth, and we also see time and space in the flower.A flower, like everything else, is made entirely of non-flower elements. The whole cosmos has come together in order to help the flower manifest herself, The flower is full of everything except one thing: a separate self, a separate identity.The flower cannot be by herself alone. The flower has to inter-be with the sunshine, the cloud and everything in the cosmos. If we understand being in terms of inter-being, then we are much closer to the truth. Inter-being is not being and it is not non-being. Inter-being means being empty of a separate identity, empty of a separate self,

Thich Nhat Hanh

I am a continuation like the rain is the continuation of the cloud.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Things cannot stay the same because they are influenced by everything else, everything that is not itself.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Just because we do not perceive something, it is not correct to say it does not exist.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Thanks to impermanence, everything is possible. Life itself is possible. If a grain of corn is not impermanent, it can never be transformed into a stalk of corn. If the stalk were not impermanent, it could never provide us with the ear of corn we eat.

Thich Nhat Hanh

The overarching practice of letting go is also one of gaining resilience and insight.

Sharon Salzberg

Mindfulness helps us see the addictive aspect of self-criticism— a repetitive cycle of flaying ourselves again and again, feeling the pain anew.

Sharon Salzberg

The roots of war are in the way we live our daily lives —the way we develop our industries, build up our society, and consume goods.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Peace is based on respect for life, the spirit of reverence for life.

Thich Nhat Hanh

If we are aware of our lifestyle, our way of consuming, of looking at things, we will know how to make peace right in the moment we are alive.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Most people treat the present moment as if it were an obstacle that they need to overcome. Since the present moment is life itself, it is an insane way to live.

Truth is found in life and not merely in conceptual knowledge.

Thich Nhat Hanh

We wanted peace. We did not care about anyone’s victory or defeat. We just wanted the bombs to stop falling on us.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Life is the force of the absolute, the supreme, the Creator who creates everything.

Everything in existence is a manifestation of the one living being we call God. Everything is God.

When you understand, you cannot help but love. You cannot get angry.

Thich Nhat Hanh

By identifying impermanence as a fundamental characteristic of existence itself, rather than a problem to be solved, the Buddhists are encouraging us to let go our hold on illusory solidity and learn to swim freely in the sea of change.

Andrew Olendzki

You are taking things far too literally. Everything you see is merely a symbol for things you do not see. Most of the people of this world are asleep in their minds.

Seth Adam Smith

Together with the patient, a therapist looks at the nature of the pain. Often, the therapist can uncover causes of suffering that stem from the way the patient looks at things, the beliefs he holds about himself, his culture, and the world. The therapist examines these viewpoints and beliefs with the patient, and together they help free him from the kind of prison he has been in. But the patient’s efforts are crucial. A teacher has to give birth to the teacher within his student, and a psychotherapist has to give birth to the psychotherapist within his patient. The patient’s “internal psychotherapist” can then work full-time in a very effective way.

Thich Nhat Hanh

A wise man will know what game to play to-day, and play it. We must not be governed by rigid rules, as by the almanac, but let the season rule us. The moods and thoughts of man are revolving just as steadily and incessantly as nature's. Nothing must be postponed. Take time by the forelock. Now or never! You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land; there is no other life but this, or the like of this. Where the good husbandman is, there is the good soil. Take any other course, and life will be a succession of regrets. Let us see vessels sailing prosperously before the wind, and not simply stranded barks. There is no world for the penitent and regretful.

Henry David Thoreau

The essence of love and compassion is understanding, the ability to recognize the physical, material, and psychological suffering of others, to put ourselves “inside the skin” of the other.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Even if we were very good at making everything outside of ourselves be just the way we ourselves want it to be (a ludicrous thought, you must admit), we could fundamentally never get everything perfect: because our desires are always changing, because they are often conflicting, and because the changes of the environment can never keep up with the pace of the wanting mind. The satisfaction of desire as a strategy for happiness will always be a doomed enterprise.

Andrew Olendzki

The truth is that everything contains everything else. We cannot just be, we can only inter-be.

Thich Nhat Hanh

We need the vision of interbeing—we belong to each other; we cannot cut reality into pieces. The well-being of “this” is the well-being of “that,” so we have to do things together. Every side is “our side”; there is no evil side.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Most of the people of this world are asleep in their minds.

Seth Adam Smith

By grounding yourself in mindfulness early in the morning, you are reminding yourself that things are always changing, that good and bad things come and go, and that it is possible to embody a perspective of of constancy, wisdom, and inner peace as you face any conditions that present themselves.

The purpose of meditation practice is not enlightenment; it is to pay attention even at unextraordinary times, to be of present, nothing-but-the-present, to bear this mindfulness of now into each event of ordinary life.

Peter Matthiessen

The challenge of mindfulness is to work with the very circumstances that you find yourself in - no matter how unpleasant, how discouraging, how limited, how unending and stuck they may appear to be - and to make sure that you have done everything in your power to use their energies to transform yourself before you decide to cut your losses and move on.

There can be no resolution leading to growth until the present situation has been faced completely and you have opened to it with mindfulness, allowing the roughness of the situation itself to sand down your own rough edges. In other words, you must be willing to let itself to become your teacher.

The virtues of getting up early have nothing to do with cramming more hours of busyness and industry into one's day. Just the opposite. They stem from the stillness and solitude of the hour, and the potential to use that time to expand consciousness, to contemplate, to make time for being, for purposefully not doing anything. The peacefulness, the darkness, the dawn, the stillness - all contribute to making early morning a special time for mindfulness practice.

The point is not to resist painful experiences or grasp at pleasant ones: that's a kind of craving - and craving leads to suffering. The art is to find a balance in which you remain mindful, accepting, and curious regarding difficult experiences - while also taking in supportive feelings and thoughts.

A quiet mind allows the artist to tap into the wellspring of Divine Music within.

Mindset is your beliefs about your potential, skills, strength, intelligence and choices. Through mindfulness you can change your mindset.

Amit Ray

Mindfulness is observing the beauty of every moment unfolding before us.

Amit Ray

Stop over-thinking, put more energy on what you really want to do.

Amit Ray

Breathe out unwanted thoughts with your exhale and re-focus your attention directly on what is important right now, at this moment.

Amit Ray

Karma Yoga is mindful service to the humanity with love and respect.

Amit Ray

Mindful living is a conscious way of living – noticing the beauty of life in every moment.

Amit Ray

It's not that God, the environment, and other people cannot help us to be happy or find satisfaction. It's just that our happiness, satisfaction, and our understanding, even of God, will be no deeper than our capacity to know ourselves inwardly, to encounter the world from the deep comfort that comes from being at home in one's own skin, from an intimate familiarity with the ways of one's own mind and body.

Suffering has its beneficial aspects. It can be an excellent teacher.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Mindfulness is to understand that there is a no moment left to be unhappy.

Amit Ray

In every bend of time there is some surprise, joy and beauty. Mindfulness is the light to discover it.

Amit Ray

If we turn away from our own pain, we may find ourselves projecting this aversion onto others, seeing them as somehow inadequate for being in a troubled situation.

Sharon Salzberg

Being a critic is easy.But if the critic tries to run the operation, he soon understands that nothing is as easy as his criticisms.Criticism without a solution is merely an inflation of the critic's ego.

Life and love generate effort, but effort will not generate them.

But remember, there's no greater gift than the present.

...it is often more difficult to remember to be mindful than to be mindful itself. (p. 47)

Donald Rothberg

The next time you feel a sense of dissatisfaction, of something being missing or not quite right, turn inward as an experiment. See if you can capture the energy of that very moment. Instead of picking up a magazine or going to the movies, calling a friend or looking for something to eat or acting up in one way or another, make a place for yourself. Sit down and enter into your breathing, if only for a few minutes. Don't look for anything - neither flowers not light nor a beautiful view. Don't extol the virtues of anything or condemn the inadequacy of anything. Don't even think to yourself, "I am going inward now." Just sit. Reside at the center of the world. Let things be as they are.

You must know that weather or not you are practicing mental prayer has nothing to do with keeping your lips closed. If, while I am speaking with God, I am fully conscious of doing so, and if this is more real to me than the words I am uttering, then I am combining mental and vocal prayer. I am amazed when people tell me that you are speaking with God by reciting the Paternoster even while you are thinking of worldly things. When you speak with a Lord so great, you should think of Who it is you are addressing and what you yourself are, if only that you may speak to Him with proper respect. How can you address a king with the reverence he deserves unless you are clearly conscious of his position and yours?

Teresa of Avila.

We cannot force the development of mindfulness.

Worry about your own neck. Don’t waste time worrying what others may or may not think. If someone is rude, if they disrespect you, recognize that this is an issue with them and not you. Don’t let it change how you behave. Be the same kind, loving and compassionate person as always. Don’t fuel the negativity. Always strive to carry peace in your heart, wherever you go. It will help to keep you in a positive frame of mind.

The study of modern mindfulness meditation and emotional intelligence is deeply rooted in the ancient Vipassana meditation techniques.

Amit Ray

Let go of all the drama, all that is superficial, all the worry over things you have no control over. Let go of the past. Don't lose yourself in competing and comparing yourself with others. Don't lose yourself in consumerism, in greed, in the acquisition of wealth. What matters the most is that you live. That you live as you, that you live IN your life as your genuine self. Don't put off living. Don't wait until the end of the day to enjoy a couple of hours of life. Don't wait until retirement. Be in whatever it is you do. If you can't, then make every effort to change what it is you do. Whatever you do, do it with care, concern and love. Don't over-complicate your life. Keep it as simple as you can. Do what you love as much as possible. Love what you do as much as possible. Love yourself. Appreciate yourself. Appreciate every drop of life you receive and make the most of it by not shying away from life. Life is meant to be lived. Don't forget to live.

Without relying on any deities, mantras, or mandalas, without having to master the intricacies of any doctrine or philosophy, I vividly understood what it meant to be a fragile, impermanent creature in a fragile, impermanent world. The mindfulness sharpened my attention to everything that was going on within and around me. My body became a tingling, pulsing mass of sensations. At times when I sat outside I felt as though the breeze were blowing through me. The sheen of the grass was more brilliant, the rustling leaves were like a chorus in an endlessly unfolding symphony. At the same time there was a deep stillness and poise at the core of this vital awareness.

Stephen Batchelor

Life is simple. It is meant to be lived. Don't over-complicate things. Don't lose your life in the things that don't matter.

Don't let fear cripple you and keep you from trying new things, changing things, exploring and living a life of adventure. Be courageous, be brave. A whole life is out there just waiting to be lived. Don't wait until it is too late. Seize the opportunity and seize the day. Don't allow yourself to get caught in regret by limiting yourself and your life. Life passes by very quickly. Make the most of every day!

If you miss the present moment, you miss your appointment with life. It’s so clear. Mindfulness is the energy and practice that helps you go back to the here and now so that you encounter life.

Thich Nhat Hanh

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