Quotes About Mindfulness

Beginning again and again is the actual practice, not a problem to be overcome so that one day we can come to the real meditation.

When we open our hearts to the breadth of our experiences, we learn to tune into our needs, unique perceptions, thoughts & feelings

Mindfulness allows us to shift the angle on our story and to remember that we have the capacity to learn and change in ways that are productive, not self-defeating.

Ten thousand flowers in spring, the moon in autumn, A cool breeze in summer, snow in winter— If your mind is not clouded by unnecessary things, this is the best season of your life.

Mindfulness practice helps create space between our actual experiences and the reflexive stories we tend to tell about them.

Integration arises from intimacy with our emotions and our bodies, as well as with our thoughts.

Loving kindness practice helps us move out of the terrain of our default narratives if they tend to be based on fear or disconnection. We become authors of brand-new stories about love.

There's no denying that it takes effort to set the intention to see our fundamental connected-ness with others.

Clinging to our ideas of perfection isolates us from life and is a barrier.

May the actions that I take toward the good, toward understanding myself, toward being more peaceful be of benefit to all beings everywhere. And

The wholesome pursuit of excellence feels quite different from perfectionism.

Not paying attention keeps us in an endless cycle of wanting.

When we approach the journey acknowledging what we do not know and what we can't control, we maintain our energy for the quest.

W]e're challenged daily to act lovingly on our own behalf. Simple gestures of respect—care of the body, rest for the mind, and beauty for the soul in the form of music and art or nature—are all ways of showing ourselves love.

The first time a meditation teacher encouraged me to practice mindfulness—which

Breathe in the connection to all things, to the beautiful world that is just beyond the window, to the birds I saw in the marshes by the river, to my neighbors and to myself. Breathe out to spread that awareness, to share it, with the little cities nearby and the big ones out in the distance, and all the places in between and beyond. Light pouring into me and light pouring out from me in a grateful relationship with the world.

Though it may sound paradoxical, identifying our thoughts, emotions, and habitual patterns of behavior is the key to freedom & transformation.

When we contemplate the miracle of embodied life, we begin to partner with our bodies in a kinder way.

A grandfather (occasionally it's a grandmother) imparting a life lesson to his grandson tells him, "I have two wolves fighting in my heart. One wolf is vengeful, fearful, envious, resentful, deceitful. The other wolf is loving, compassionate, generous, truthful, and serene." The grandson asks which wolf will win the fight. The grandfather answers, "The one I feed.

We cultivate mindfulness to help us distinguish the actual experience from the story we tell ourselves.

There is no conflict between loving others deeply and living mindfully.

No matter what we think we should do, I don't think you can coerce yourself into loving your neighbor—or your boss—when you can't stand him. But if you try to understand your feelings of dislike with mindfulness and compassion, being sure not to forget self-compassion, you create the possibility for change.

Famed basketball coach Phil Jackson, a meditator himself, arranged to have his players—first the Chicago Bulls, and then the L.A. Lakers—learn meditation as a way to improve their focus and teamwork. Jackson finds that mindfulness assists players in paying attention to what's happening on the court moment by moment. Such precise training in attention has paid off during tense playoffs; Jackson has led more teams to championships than any coach in NBA history. Meditation

How many pleasures escape our notice because we think we need big, dramatic sensations to feel alive? Mindfulness can allow us to experience fully the moment in front of us—what Thoreau calls "the bloom of the present"—and to wake up from