Quotes About Mindfulness

Although the process of meditating is different from running, the tools are the same: we need to be determined and exert ourselves. If we can get through the beginning, we will probably be successful.

Taking your attention away from thoughts and placing it on the breath is the focus of meditation, which in this simple form is simply the process of being mindful of the breathing, being aware that you are thinking, and returning your attention to the breath.

Shambhala is not only a place; it is a spiritual path

The bones and tendons of the mind are mindfulness and awareness. Mindfulness is the mind's strength, and awareness is its flexibility.

This is what we're doing by learning to peacefully abide in sitting meditation: creating the space for our garden to grow. Then we can cultivate qualities that will allow us to live our lives in full bloom.

Tilling the ground of our own minds through meditation is how we begin to create a community garden. In doing so we are helping to create a new culture, a culture that can thrive in the modern world and can at the same time support our human journey in an uplifted and joyous way. Such a culture is called enlightened society. Enlightened society is where the flower and the rock will meet.

Life is breath. Breath is life.

Our true nature expresses itself as intelligence, clean energy, mindfulness, presence, and intuition. It also has an element of knowledge.

If we do not push ourselves enough, we do not grow, but if we push ourselves too much, we regress. What is enough will change, depending on where we are and what we are doing. In that sense, the present moment is always some kind of beginning.

True happiness is always available to us, but first we have to create the environment for it to flourish.

What is really happening in meditation is that we are developing the ability to think when we want to, and to not think when we don't want to.

When stress is the basic state of mind, even good things stress us out. We have to learn to let go.

Running and meditation are very personal activities. Therefore they are lonely. This loneliness is one of their best qualities because it strengthens our incentive to motivate ourselves.

The bones and tendons of the mind are mindfulness and awareness. Mindfulness is the mind's strength, and awareness is its flexibility. Without these abilities, we cannot function. When we drink a glass of water, drive a car, or have a conversation, we are using mindfulness and awareness.

Meditate with delight and run with joy.

Once I was running and there was someone on the treadmill next to me who stopped running to answer a question I asked and flew of the back of the treadmill. Being fully engaged has many benefits.

To be gentle is to understand that life is a journey deserving constant attentiveness. Therefore it is gentleness that allows us to finish a marathon, not putting pressure on ourselves to immediately think about the next one. Gentleness is "just doing it" in such a way that we can do it again and again.

Of course, we all go through our own experiences. If we do not push ourselves enough, we do not grow, but if we push ourselves too much, we regress. What is enough will change, depending on where we are and what we are doing. In that sense, the present moment is always some kind of beginning.

We already have what we need—the opportunity to weave the tapestry of happiness every day with the needle and thread of our own mind.

In my constant travels, from the highland meadows of Tibet to the tropical rain forest of Brazil to the busy streets of Hong Kong, I've learned that you have to be content wherever you are. Otherwise, traveling is exhausting, because you're always thinking that the next place will be better.

Then we wonder, "Why is nothing turning out the way I want?" Tiger mind creates a little gap in which we can look at our choices. We could get mad or not get mad. We could manipulate or not manipulate. We could become desirous and fixate. We could get jealous or not. It's up to us. Wisdom and compassion begin with cultivating discernment—not just reacting to what happens.

Meditation stabilizes us in our inherent power as humans. It introduces the possibility of living our lives in a continually conscious, confident, and balanced state of mind.

Even buddhas are subject to the conditions in which they appear, and enlightenment is not a fixed state that we can hold on to. It must be renewed, rediscovered, as we ourselves are renewed and rediscovered.

He that will be angry for anything will be angry for nothing.