Quotes About Mindfulness

Regular elicitation of the Relaxation Response can prevent, and compensate for, the damage incurred by frequent nervous reactions that pulse through our hearts and bodies.

One way to know whether hibernation is occurring is to measure the body's rectal temperature. During hibernation this temperature decreases. Meditators, it appears, do not hibernate. Their rectal temperatures do not decrease during the practice of meditation.

man gained direct knowledge of God by losing all awareness of himself. Referring to his title, the author depicts a passive attitude as the way "to cover," or forget, all distractions: "Try to cover these thoughts with a thick cloud of forgetting as though they never existed neither for you nor for any other man. And if they continue to arise, continue to put them down.

He goes on to discuss the element of "dwelling upon" and advises that his readers can develop "special ways, tricks, private techniques, and spiritual devices" in order to achieve contemplation. One means is the use of a single syllable such as "God" or "love":

kneeling, swaying, or sitting in a cross-legged position are believed to have evolved to prevent falling asleep. You should be comfortable and relaxed.

If you wish to acquire recollection by practicing this holy exercise, remember to make use of a very brief means of ridding yourself of various distracting thoughts. This is that you say "No" to them when they come to you during prayer.

Sit down alone and in silence. Lower your head, shut your eyes, breathe out gently, and imagine yourself looking into your own heart. As you breathe out, say "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me." Say it, moving your lips gently, or simply say it in your mind. Try to put all other thoughts aside. Be calm, be patient and repeat the process very frequently.

Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon me." Let this be its constant occupation, never to be abandoned. For this work, by keeping the mind free from dreaming, renders it unassailable to suggestions of the enemy and leads it to Divine desire and love….

The question is not whether you're frightened or not, but whether you or the fear is in control. If you say, 'I won't be frightened,' and then you experience fear, most likely you'll succumb to it, because you're paying attention to it. The correct thing to tell yourself is, 'If I do get frightened, I will stay in command.'

Be patient and calm; no one can catch fish in anger.

We cannot be damaged into health.

Let the most absent-minded of men be plunged in his deepest reveries—stand that man upon his legs, set his feet a-going, and he will infallibly lead you to water, if water there be in all that region…. Meditation and water are wedded forever.

Think not, is my eleventh commandment; and sleep when you can, is my twelfth.

This life is slow suicide, unless you read.

It took me a while to realize the hum was only inside my head Is a waveless noise still a sound?

If a man insisted on always being serious, and never allowed himself a bit of fun and relaxation, he would go mad or become unstable without knowing it.

Slow down,' he said, 'so I can see how you do it,' but she'd laughed and said, 'I can't slow down, if I stopped to think how I was doing it I couldn't do it at all.

I urge you both, undertake no course without deep thought: but learn to think very fast.

If a man should live as if every day is his last, he should also die as if there is a day to come, and another after that.

I found an easier way to be.

Fishing in a bucket. The total hopelessness of the activity was very soothing. It was the perfect sport. Without the emotional stresses of success and failure, she was entirely free to enjoy the pleasures of the moment... It was a good hobby, and cheap, and if more people did it more often

I always say a little prayer when I put cakes in the oven," remarked Eve, as she stopped to kiss Rose good-bye. "What do you say?" "I say, 'Please, God, don't let me forget I've put that cake in the oven.

Only reading, she knew, could distract her from her obsessive thoughts and restore her sense of peace.

Only reading, she knew, could distract her from her obssessive thoughts and restore her sense of peace.