Quotes on Mindfulness

[Daniel E.]

 

[Daniel E.]

"A sunset when you're obsessing may just be a reminder that you didn't get enough done today, but the same sunset when you're being mindful becomes color, warmth, movement, and beauty in one present moment."

~ Everyday Mindfulness for OCD (2017)

 

[Daniel E.]

The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it.

~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Although we are unaware of it, our brains sift through and discard billions of pieces of data in order to allow us to understand the world around us. In fact, most of what we call thought is actually the unconscious discarding of information...What our consciousness rejects constitutes the most valuable part of ourselves. No wonder that, in this age of information, so many of us feel empty and dissatisfied.

~ Tor Norretranders, The User Illusion

 

[Daniel E.]

“I didn’t arrive at my understanding of the fundamental laws of the universe through my rational mind.”

— Einstein

 

[Daniel E.]

“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.”

― Kevin Griffin, A Burning Desire

 

[Daniel E.]

“Neuroscience research shows that the only way we can change the way we feel is by becoming aware of our inner experience and learning to befriend what is going inside ourselves.”

― Bessel A. van der Kolk, The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma

 

[Daniel E.]

“We describe the world, and then suffer from the description.”

~ R.D. Laing

 

[Daniel E.]

?Meditation practice is not about later, when you get it all together and you're this person you really respect.?

?Maybe the most important teaching is to lighten up and relax. It?s such a huge help in working with our crazy mixed-up minds to remember that what we?re doing is unlocking a softness that is in us and letting it spread. We?re letting it blur the sharp corners of self-criticism and complaint.?

?The way to dissolve our resistance to life is to meet it face-to-face.?

~ Pema Ch?dr?n

 

[Daniel E.]

?Subtle is significant.?

? Shinzen Young

 

[Daniel E.]

"One's destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things."

"The moment one gives close attention to any thing, even a blade of grass it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself."

"The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware."

~ Henry Miller

 

[Daniel E.]

"Our normal waking consciousness, rational consciousness as we call it, is but one special type of consciousness, whilst all about it, parted from it by the filmiest of screens, there lie potential forms of consciousness entirely different."

"I found myself compelled to give up logic, fairly, squarely irrevocably...I prefer bluntly to call reality if not irrational, then at least non-rational, in its constitution."

~ William James

 

[Daniel E.]

"There are no absolutes in meditation. One just feels one's way."

"Thought is definitely not the enemy. Your enemy is the lack of moment-to-moment clarity about rising and passing of thought. Thought is every bit as much part of the flow of nature as body sensations are. Indeed, your entire being is part of nature!"

~ Shinzen Young in "Meditation and Consciousness: A Dialogue between a Meditation Teacher and a Psychologist"

 

[Daniel E.]

“Smile, breathe, and go slowly.”

~ Thich Nhat Hanh

 

[Daniel E.]

“You don’t have to control your thoughts. You just have to stop letting them control you.”

~ Dan Millman

 

[Daniel E.]

"Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone." ~ Alan Watts

 

[Daniel E.]

People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar.

~ Thich Nhat Hanh

 

[Daniel E.]

Mindfulness reminds us that we are not in a hurry when it comes to thoughts, feelings, and sensations. Yes, we sometimes have to make quick behavioral decisions in life, but we don't need to make decisions about our internal experiences. You just need to observe them.

~ Everyday Mindfulness for OCD

 

[Daniel E.]

 

[Daniel E.]

“The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.”

— W. B. YEATS

 

[Daniel E.]

"The larger problem we face is not suffering but sadness, and the sadness is caused by the fact of loss. To love less in order to lose less seems like no solution at all, but to see loss squarely sounds like wisdom...Every faith practice has a different form of comfort to offer in the face of loss, and each is useful. Sometimes it helps to dwell on the immensity of the universe. Sometimes it helps to feel the presence of ongoing family and community. Sometimes it helps to light a candle and say a prayer. Sometimes it helps to sit and breathe."

~ Adam Gopnik, What Meditation Can Do for Us, and What It Can’t -- The New Yorker