Quotes About Balance

Part of the beauty of the monastic life lies in the ability to live simply with few desires and to consume only what you need.

The horse is our habit energy pulling us along, and we are powerless. We are always running, and it has become a habit. We struggle all the time, even during our sleep. We are at war within ourselves, and we can easily start a war with others.

Si sólo te fijas en tu sufrimiento, perderás el paraíso. No ignores tu sufrimiento, pero no te olvides tampoco de disfrutar de las maravillas de la vida, en beneficio tuyo y en el de todos los seres.

If you dwell only in your suffering, you will miss paradise.

We need a small space where we can take care of our nervous system and restore our tranquility and peace.

Often, we live a life of compromise so that there's peace in the house. We buy a small peace so that we can get through the day. And if we live like that then we aren't a great person, but a cracked vase, unable to contain the rice soup.

Do you have the time to be there for yourself? Do you have the time for a cup of tea, for an orange, for your in-breath, your out-breath? Do you have the time to take steps without thinking of your projects?

Therefore the Lotus Sutra is like a cool breeze, a gentle rain, assuaging the stifling atmosphere of contention between the conservatives and the progressives.

Do not sit by while others are working. Do not avoid heavy work or seek light work. Do not covet the work of others or compare your work with others. Do not take on work beyond your capacity or state of health.

You have two gardens: your own garden and that of your beloved. First, you have to take of your own garden and master the art of gardening.

The problem is not one of being wrong or right, but one of being more or less skillful.

Some people think that to end suffering, you have to stop everything — body, feelings, perceptions, mental formations and consciousness — but that is not correct

The Buddha has taught that body and mind are one. In order to go far on your monastic path, you need to know how to take care of your body.

Mindfulness is the energy that allows us to recognize our habit energy and prevent it from dominating us.

Rien ne se crée, rien ne se perd

We think that by seeking pleasure we'll avoid suffering. But this doesn't work.

Maintain your health. Be joyful. Do not force yourself to do things you cannot do."2

When we've accumulated so much knowledge inside, we don't have the capacity to digest it. It's like when we eat too much food, we can't digest it and we become constipated.

To preserve yourself is to preserve the opportunity to serve others.

Most of us have very scheduled lives and very full calendars. But do we have enough lazy days in our calendar? A lazy day is a day for us to be without any scheduled activities. We just let the day unfold naturally, timelessly. On this day we have a chance to reestablish the balance in ourselves. We may do walking meditation on our own or with a friend, or do sitting meditation in the forest. We might like to read a little or write

The thing that bothers me about journalism is the false equivalency we sometimes place on certain issues.

I hope to keep writing journalism as long as I write fiction; it's afforded me such amazing adventures and opportunities. It does take a lot of time, so it's hard to do both at once, but I try to do a big journalism piece every couple of years, and I'll hopefully continue with that.

I had a very strong background in journalism, so it's my instinct to try to be as fair and accurate as possible.

I'm a journalist - I'm not Robert Caro. I have a day job, and a pretty consuming one - a joyfully consuming one.