- “Breath is the bridge, Between living and dying;Breath is the licence For joyous living;” ― Banani Ray, Buddha’s Smile Poems on Zen Living and Mindful Way of Life
- “Я написал старинную китайскую пословицу, из дзенской традиции. «Хорошо выкованный меч не теряет золотого блеска». Ты не знаешь этого или думаешь, что не знаешь, но тебя выковали в этом монастыре. Ковка мечей происходит не только в монастырях. Вся планета — это наковальня. Уезжая отсюда, ты тем самым ничего не ломаешь. Твое обучение продолжается. Мир — это школа, в которой будят спящих. Ты проснулся и больше уже никогда не уснешь.” ― Janwillem van de Wetering, The Empty Mirror: Experiences in a Japanese Zen Monastery
- “The psychological suffering of human beings on such a mass scale manifests as the physical suffering we see and experience in the world today. It is ignorant to objectify this suffering as if it were something outside of us, belonging only to the world and to those unfortunate beings who experience it. It is within each one of us, and to acknowledge our suffering is the only way to start to heal it, and by healing the suffering within ourselves, we help to heal the suffering of the world.” ― Joseph P. Kauffman, Awake to What Is: Discovering Peace in the Present Moment
- “We start living in heaven as soon as we leave life … the hell alone.” ― Mokokoma Mokhonoana
- “The Sleep Problem today is not as much about being able to sleep for 7 hours; it is more about being able to sleep when you are ready to.” ― Pawan Mishra
- “Left alone, I am overtaken by the northern void-no wind, no cloud, no track, no bird, only the crystal crescents between peaks, the ringing monuments of rock that, freed from the talons of ice and snow, thrust an implacable being into the blue. In the early light, the rock shadows on the snow are sharp; in the tension between light and dark is the power of the universe. This stillness to which all returns, this is reality, and soul and sanity have no more meaning than a gust of snow; such transience and insignificance are exalting, terrifying, all at once…Snow mountains, more than sea or sky, serve as a mirror to one’s own true being, utterly still, utterly clear, a void, an Emptiness without life or sound that carries in Itself all life, all sound.” ― Peter Matthiessen, The Snow Leopard
- “Your mind need not be controlled but liberated.” ― Sadguru, Mind is your Business
- “Eventually it will become quiet enough so that you can simply watch the heart begin to react, and let go before the mind starts. At some point in the journey it all becomes heart, not mind. … The mind doesn’t even get achance to start up because you let go atthe heart level.” ― Michael A. Singer, The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself
- It is the most beautiful moment in one’s life when there is neither confusion nor certainty. One simply is – a mirror reflecting that which is. With no direction to go anywhere, with no idea of doing something, with no future – just utterly in the moment, tremendously in the moment. Osho
- “Do everything in mindfulness so you can really be there, so you can love.” ― Thich Nhat Hanh, Reconciliation: Healing the Inner Child
- “But remember, there’s no greater gift than the present.” ― Dan Santat, Are We There Yet?
- “The mountain is always grounded, rooted in the earth, always still, always beautiful. It is beautiful just being what it is, seen or unseen, snow-covered or green, rained on or wrapped in clouds.” ― Jon Kabat-Zinn, Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness
- “There is no distinction between means and ends. There is no way to happiness, happiness is the way. There is no way to enlightenment, enlightenment is the way.” ― Thich Nhat Hanh, Reconciliation: Healing the Inner Child
- “Humanity A to Z (The Poem)A for assimilation is the way,B for bigotry must be thrown away.C for conscience when at play,D for delusions all run away.E for equality once brought to life,F for fears can no longer survive.G for greed when let not to thrive,H for humility won’t be caught in strife.I for integrity mustn’t be compromised,J for justice will then prevail alright.K for kindness must never run tight,L for life can then be lived upright.M for mercy can never be forgotten,N for naivety keeps you from being rotten.O for oppression when is begotten,P for patience must be overridden.Q for questions when let fly,R for rigidity will weaken and die.S for serenity will go awry,T for tradition if obeyed dry.U for unity is our supreme mission,V for vanity leads only to destruction.W for wholeness is our salvation,X for xenophobia is no civilization.Y for yield we must never to separation,Z for zeal we mustn’t lose for ascension.” ― Abhijit Naskar, Ain’t Enough to Look Human
- “The wiser you get, the more detached and grounded you become.” ― Maxime Lagacé
- “Love begins in mindfulness. Love is expressed in relationship to another but the source is not the relationship. The source of love is within us.” ― Collette O’Mahony, In Quest of Love: A Guide to Inner Harmony and Wellbeing in Relationships
- “Right where you are, the potential of the universe is.” ― Alexandra Katehakis
- “I honor truthI practice truthI live” ― Ora Nadrich, Live True: A Mindfulness Guide to Authenticity
- “When we change our perspective, we change our perception.” ― Vironika Tugaleva, The Art of Talking to Yourself
- “With a beginner’s mind, we can all become more fluid in our understanding and thereby pave the way for a more fulfilling and balanced future.” ― Benjamin W. Decker, Practical Meditation for Beginners: 10 Days to a Happier, Calmer You
- Look at things as they are, not as your emotions color them. Robert Greene
- “Wherever the responsibility lies, shame creates a solid and terrible feeling of unworthiness that resides in our bodies: the storehouse of the memories of our acts, real or imagined, and the secrets we keep about them.” ― Sharon Salzberg, Real Love: The Art of Mindful Connection
- Sadness comes, joy comes, and everything passes by. What remains always is the witness. The witness is beyond all polarities. Osho
- “There are always waves on the water. Sometimes they are big, sometimes they are small, and sometimes they are almost imperceptible. The water’s waves are churned up by the winds, which come and go and vary in direction and intensity, just as do the winds of stress and change in our lives, which stir up the waves in our minds.” ― Jon Kabat-Zinn, Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life
- “The first step toward feeling compassion for others is to set the intention to try it out.” ― Sharon Salzberg, Real Love: The Art of Mindful Connection
- “You settle for less, you get less.” ― Brandi L. Bates, Remains To Be Seen
- “As helpers, we often feel the need to see our impact in tangible, measurable ways. We allow negative language into our head about the “broken system;” we look through a lens of “it doesn’t matter, I can’t make a difference”. These ideas are surely contributing to our burnout.” ― Jenn Bruer, Helping Effortlessly: A Book of Inspiration and Healing
- “Our perception of reality is not reality itself, but it is the lens through which we view reality. It is like looking outside through a stained-glass window—if we look through red glass, the outside world will appear to be red; if we look through blue glass, the outside world will appear to be blue. The outside world isn’t changing, we are just observing it through different colors of glass, which make it appear to have the same color as whatever color glass that we look through.” ― Joseph P. Kauffman, Awake to What Is: Discovering Peace in the Present Moment
- To live in the eternal present there must be death to the past, to memory. In this death is timeless renewal. Jiddu Krishnamurti
- “Deep listening is an act of surrender. We risk being changed by what we hear. When I really want to hear another person’s story, I try to leave my preconceptions at the door and draw close to their telling. I am always partially listening to the thoughts in my own head when others are speaking, so I consciously quiet my thoughts and begin to listen with my senses. Empathy is cognitive and emotional—to inhabit another person’s view of the world is to feel the world with them. But I also know that it’s okay if I don’t feel very much for them at all. I just need to feel safe enough to stay curious. The most critical part of listening is asking what is at stake for the other person. I try to understand what matters to them, not what I think matters. Sometimes I start to lose myself in their story. As soon as I notice feeling unmoored, I try to pull myself back into my body, like returning home. As Hannah Arendt says, ‘One trains one’s imagination to go visiting.’ When the story is done, we must return to our skin, our own worldview, and notice how we have been changed by our visit. So I ask myself, What is this story demanding of me? What will I do now that I know this?” ― Valarie Kaur, See No Stranger: A Memoir and Manifesto of Revolutionary Love