Quotes from Judith Hanson Lasater

Taking time out each day to relax and renew is essential to living well.

Taking time out each day to relax and renew is essential to living well.

Faith is the quiet cousin of courage.

You might say that we use ourselves to discover ourselves.

Let] go of your attachments: your attachment to being right, to having total control, or to living forever. This process of letting go is integral to the process of becoming whole.

What we learned about love and relationships from our childhood feels normal. But just because something feels familiar doesn't mean it is healthy. Spend five minutes today quietly reflecting on one of your relationships. Does it enrich your life? If you find that it doesn't, consider what changes you need to make so the relationship feeds you.

When carving stone, the sculptor removes everything that is not the statue. […] The art of revealing beauty lies in removing what conceals it. So, too, Patanjali [in the Yoga Sutras] tells us that wholeness exists within us. Our work is to chisel away at everything that is not essence, not Self.

I believe that perception does not shape your life; it is your life.

We accept responsibility for ourselves when we acknowledge that ultimately there are no answers outside of ourselves, and no gurus, no teachers, and no philisophies that can solve the problems of our lives. They can only suggest, guide, and inspire. It is our dedication to living with open hearts and our commitment to the day-to-day details of our lives that will transform us.

Beliefs are rigid thoughts. Beliefs are thoughts that get repeated enough to take on a kind of internal structure. No belief is the truth; it is only a belief.

To cultivate empathy means to see the world through the eyes of another without judgement, without trying to "fix" it, without needing it to be different. It is acceptance independent of agreement, understanding without any implied coercion for oneself or the other to change. There is also no sense of wanting to "educate" the other person about how their perspective is wrong and ours is right.

Integrity is what you do when no one is looking. LIVING YOUR YOGA: To practice yoga, telling the truth is not enough. We need to practice not lying. Today live with integrity by not lying to yourself about one important thing in your life.

I came to understand that belief is a preconception about the way reality should be; faith is the willingness to experience reality as it is, including the acceptance of the unknown. An interesting way to understand the difference is to use the words interchangeably in the same sentence: I believe in Santa Claus. I have faith in Santa Claus. Belief can impede spiritual unfoldment; faith is supremely necessary for it.

Choice is at the heart of service.

I suggest that, before speaking or taking some other action, you first ask yourself these questions: Is it necessary? Is it true? Is it nonharming? If you can answer yes to all these questions, it may be okay to proceed. If not, you must weigh what is the right action in the situation.

Now, well beyond my teens, I feel that there is no such thing as wasted love. Any love that we experience holds great power - the power to transform both us and those we love. In fact, without love we cannot be transformed.

For something to be funny, it has to have an element of truth: lies are not funny. So

Abiding Practice can remind us that there is nothing we need for wholeness that does not already exist within us.

I wanted them to realized that there is enough time, enough love, and certainly enough apple pie in life ... I believed that the cause of many of the world's ills could be directly connected to greed, and that I thought it was crucial that children learn from an early age that there is enough of what they need.

MANTRAS FOR DAILY LIVING ?I am my own authority. ?My life is a work in progress. ?I desire wholeness.

the answers are within me. ?Life is practice, practice is life. ?I commit to living my life fully in this moment.

The basic distinctions that are so important to Nonviolent Communication: • requests and demands, • feelings and evaluations, • observations and judgments, • needs and strategies [to meet needs].

Sometimes I notice my yoga students practicing their less-than favorite poses with a ho-hum attitude. At the moments, I remind them that although yoga is powerful, it cannot transform us unless we love it. When we love, we are receptive to the other. When we love, we are vulnerable. Although being vulnerable can be frightening, it is also the doorway to the ultimate freedom.

the only thing I was to do while living was to love everyone. That, she let me know, is the purpose of life.