Quotes About Presence

The first definition of love is to be there. This is a practice. How can you love if you are not there? In order to love you have to be there, body and mind united. A true lover knows that the practice of mindfulness is the foundation of true love.

I take my time. I want to be myself. I don't deny myself in the here and now. This is our practice—we call it aimlessness. We don't put a goal in front of ourselves and run after it constantly. If we do, we'll be running all our life and never be happy. Happiness is possible only when you stop running and cherish the present moment and who you are. Who you are is already a wonder; you don't need to be someone else. You are a wonder of life.

We do so much, we run so quickly, the situation is difficult, and many people say, Don't just sit there, do something. But doing more things may make the situation worse. So you should say, Don't just do something, sit there. Sit there, stop, be yourself first, and begin from there.

Life is too precious for us to lose ourselves in our ideas and concepts, in our anger and our despair. We must wake up to the marvelous reality of life. We must begin to live fully and truly, every moment of our daily lives.

we must speak carefully so that we and our listeners do not get stuck in words or concepts. It is our duty to transcend words and concepts to be able to encounter reality.

Work is only a part of life. But work is life only when done in mindfulness. Otherwise, one becomes like the person "who lives as though dead.

Anywhere we go, we will have our self with us; we cannot escape ourselves.

All the wonders of life are already here. They're calling you. If you can listen to them, you will be able to stop running. What you need, what we all need, is silence. Stop the noise in your mind in order for the wondrous sounds of life to be heard. Then you can begin to live your life authentically and deeply.

Mindful breathing is the vehicle that you use to go back to your true home.

dwell deeply in the present moment.

When the Buddha was asked, "Sir, what do you and your monks practice?" he replied, "We sit, we walk, and we eat." The questioner continued, "But sir, everyone sits, walks, and eats," and the Buddha told him, "When we sit, we know we are sitting. When we walk, we know we are walking. When we eat, we know we are eating.

If we have too many worries, fears, and doubts, we have no room for living and loving. We need to practice letting go.

Don't wait to start living. Live now! Your life should be real in this very moment.

Peace is every step.

Thinking prevents us from touching life deeply. I think, therefore I am really not there.

The miracle is to walk on Earth.

The miracle is not to walk on water or fire. The miracle is to walk on the earth." I cherish that teaching. I enjoy just walking, even in busy places like airports and railway stations. Walking like that, with each step caressing our Mother Earth, we can inspire other people to do the same. We can enjoy every minute of our lives.

To be enlightened is always to be enlightened about something. I am enlightened about the fact that I am drinking a glass of water. I can obtain joy, peace, and happiness just because of that enlightenment. When you look at the blue sky and are aware of it, the sky becomes real, and you become real. That is enlightenment, and enlightenment brings about true life and true happiness.

As soon as we pay attention to our breath, as we breathe in, these three things—body, breath, and mind—come together.

Every minute can be a holy, sacred minute. Where do you seek the spiritual? You seek the spiritual in every ordinary thing that you do every day. Sweeping the floor, watering the vegetables, and washing the dishes become holy and sacred if mindfulness is there. With mindfulness and concentration, everything becomes spiritual.

Maybe we too are living like dead people. We move about life in our own corpse because we are not touching life in depth. We live a kind of artificial life, with lots of plans, lots of worries and anger. Never are we able to establish ourselves in the here and now and live our lives deeply. We have to wake up! We have to make it possible for the moment of awareness to manifest. This is the practice that will save us—this is the revolution.

While washing the dishes one should only be washing the dishes, which means that while washing the dishes one should be completely aware of the fact that one is washing the dishes.

If you think while you walk, you're not really walking.

Mindfulness isn't something we practice only in the meditation hall; we also practice in the kitchen, in the garden, or when we're on the telephone, driving the car, or washing the dishes.