Quotes About Awareness

It's such a shame to waste time. We always think we have so much of it.

Mitch, he said, the culture doesn't encourage you to think about such things until you're about to die. We're so wrapped up in egotistical things, career, family, having enough money, meeting the mortgage, getting a new car, fixing the radiator when it breaks - we're involved in trillions of little acts just to keep going. So we don't get into the habit of standing back and looking at our lives and saying, Is this all? Is this all I want? Is something missing?

Aging is not just decay, you know. It's growth. It's more than the negative that you're going to die, it's also the positive that you understand you're going to die, and that you live a better life because of it.

I knew he was right. Not that I did anything about it.

Yes. But there's a better approach. To know you're going to die, and to be prepared for it at any time. That's better. That way you can actually be more involved in your life while you're living.

How can you ever be prepared to die? "Do what the Buddhists do. Every day, have a little bird on your shoulder that asks, 'Is today the day? Am I ready? Am I doing all I need to do? Am I being the person I want to be?

What if you had one day perfectly healthy, I asked? What would you do? "Twenty-four hours?" Twenty-four hours.

It's a quiet theft, how time lures people away.

Do what the Buddhists do. Every day, have a little bird on your shoulder that asks. Is today the day? Am I ready? Am I doing all I need to do? Am I being the person I want to be?

Why is it so hard to think about dying? "Because," Morrie continued, "most of us all walk around as if we're sleepwalking. We really don't experience the world fully, because we're half-asleep, doing things we automatically think we have to do." And facing death changes all that? "Oh, yes. You strip away all that stuff and you focus on the essentials. When you realize you are going to die, you see everything much differently.

When you're in bed, you're dead.

The loving relationships we have, the universe around us, we take these things for granted.

Have you ever considered how many living things there are on earth? People. Animals. Birds. Fish. Trees. It makes you wonder how anyone could feel lonely. Yet humans do. It's a shame.

Well, the truth is, if you really listen to that bird on your shoulder, if you accept that you can die at any time—then you might not be as ambitious as you are.

A veces no eres capaz de creete lo que ves, tienes que creer en lo que sientes.

Learning to pay attention? How important could that be? I now know it is more important than almost everything they taught us in college.

Todo mundo sabe que se va a morir, pero nadie se lo cree.

Cundo aprendes a morir, aprendes a vivir.

Why did you measure the days and nights? To know. Sitting high above the city, Father Time realized that knowing something and understanding it were not the same thing.

To know you're going to die, and to be prepared for it at any time... That way you can actually be more involved in your life while you're living.

Francisco Presto: How do you know you are in love, Maestro? El Maestro: If you are asking, you are not.

With endless time, nothing is special. With no loss or sacrifice, we can't appreciate what we have.

Yet all around you, timekeeping is ignored. Birds are not late. A dog does not check its watch. Deer do not fret over passing birthdays.

Everything in this world is music if you can hear it. Make a joyful noise, the psalm says.