Quotes About Mindfulness

Taking time to reflect opens the door to conscious awareness, which brings with it the possibility of change.

Technology is so much fun but we can drown in our technology. The fog of information can drive out knowledge.

the constant nagging in your mind of undone things pulls you out of the present—tethers you to a mind-set of the future so that you're never fully in the moment and enjoying what's now.

Satisficing is one of the foundations of productive human behavior; it prevails when we don't waste time on decisions that don't matter, or more accurately, when we don't waste time trying to find improvements that are not going to make a significant difference in our happiness or satisfaction.

Daniel J. Levitin

Spend time with people younger than you. See your doctor regularly, but not obsessively. Don't think of yourself as old (other than taking prudent precautions). Appreciate your cognitive strengths—pattern recognition, crystallized intelligence, wisdom, accumulated knowledge. Promote cognitive health through experiential learning: traveling, spending time with grandchildren, and immersing yourself in new activities and situations. Do new things.

Anger, hatred, and fear are very bad for our health. . . . Passing through life, progressing to old age and eventually death, it is not sufficient to just take care of the body. We need to take care of our emotions as well.

We all want to believe that we can do many things at once and that our attention is infinite, but this is a persistent myth.

Each of us needs periods in which our minds can focus inwardly. Solitude is an essential experience for the mind to organize its own processes and create an internal state of resonance. In such a state, the self is able to alter its constraints by directly reducing the input from interactions with others. (p. 235)

Inviting our thoughts and feelings into awareness allows us to learn from them rather than be driven by them.

Where attention goes, neural firing flows, and neural connection grows.

Mindfulness is a form of mental activity that trains the mind to become aware of awareness itself and to pay attention to one's own intention.

One of the key practical lessons of modern neuroscience is that the power to direct our attention has within it the power to shape our brain's firing patterns, as well as the power to shape the architecture of the brain itself.

Say yes to the feelings, even as you say no to the behavior.

Mental presence is a state of being wide awake and receptive to what is happening, as it is happening in the moment, within us and between the world and us. Presence cultivates happiness.

Presence depends upon a sense of safety. The

Simply put, reactivity cuts off seeing clearly.

You don't have to get stuck in a negative experience. You don't have to be a victim to external events, or internal emotions. You can use your mind to take charge of how you feel, and how you act.

Trying to change how we actually feel by ordering ourselves to do so is a strategy that goes nowhere, fast.

Reduce words Embrace emotions Describe, don't preach Involve your child in the discipline Reframe a no into a conditional yes Emphasize the positive Creatively approach the situation Teach mindsight tools

What you practice with intention creates a repeated state that will then become a trait that can work in the background without your effort or conscious energy.

Feelings are not a side component of a life well lived; they are essential ways we live as a whole, embodied being.

You can be grateful for what you enjoy, not longing for what you are missing.

Serenity, courage, and wisdom are at the heart of temporal integration.