Quotes About Openness

what I say about leadership: "You must be interested in finding the best way, not in having your own way.

Life only unfolds in moments. The healing power of mindfulness lies in living each of those moments as fully as we can, accepting it as it is as we open to what comes next—in the next moment of now.

There is a price we pay for being attached to a narrow view of being "right.

R]emain open to not knowing, perhaps allowing yourself to come to the point of admitting, I don't know, and then experimenting with relaxing a bit into this not knowing instead of condemning yourself for it. After all, in this moment, it may be an accurate statement of how things are for you.

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 life itself become your teacher.

When we commit ourselves to paying attention in an open way, without falling prey to our own likes and dislikes, opinions and prejudices, projections and expectations, new possibilities open up and we have a chance to free ourselves from the straitjacket of unconsciousness.

In the beginner's mind, there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few.

Feel your body lying in bed. Straighten it out. Ask yourself, Am I awake now? Do I know that the gift of a new day is being given to me? Will I be awake for it? What will happen today? Right now I don't really know. Even as I think about what I have to do, can I be open to this not-knowing? Can I see today as an adventure? Can I see right now as filled with possibilities?

Knowing that we don't know is just as important, if not more so, than anything else we might know.

The point here is simply that it is useful at times to admit to yourself that you don't know your way and to be open to help from unexpected places. Doing this makes available to you inner and outer energies and allies that arise out of your own soulfulness and selflessness.

You discover that the boundaries of how far your body can stretch or how long you can hold a particular posture are not fixed or static. So your thoughts about what you can and can't do shouldn't be too fixed or static either, because

It is only when the mind is open and receptive that learning and seeing and change can occur.

Work at allowing more things to unfold in your life without forcing them to happen and without rejecting the ones that don't fit your idea of what "should" be happening.

Don't ever get to the point where you can't be taught because life is a classroom and everyone owns a pen.

Life without faith in something is too narrow a space in which to live.

The Church is a family expecting guests.

We don't have titles on our business cards. No one really gets any special treatment. No one gets a corner office to put pictures of their family and their dog in.

My family was very, very receptive to all; all races, religions.

My family is almost exactly like the one in 'Monsoon Wedding'. We are very open, fairly liberal, loud people.

I want a country where citizens like you and your family are just as welcome as anyone else.

I come from a very non-accepting family, but I'm very accepting.

Grown men can learn from very little children for the hearts of little children are pure. Therefore the Great Spirit may show to them many things which older people miss.

For me, conscious parenting is staying attuned to your child, being really open and in the moment. It means staying as present as possible in your own breath for the betterment of your whole family.

I come from musical theater, and a lot of musical theater is about accepting fantasy. I think it is more about just being open and accepting.