Quotes About Meditation

late at night once

I spent eighteen days entirely in widening and deepening my cave

Thus I liv'd mighty comfortably, my Mind being entirely composed by resigning to the Will of God, and throwing my self wholly upon the Disposal of his Providence. This made my Life better than sociable, for when I began to regret the want of Conversation, I would ask my self whether thus conversing mutually with my own Thoughts, and, as I hope I may say, with even God himself by Ejaculations, was not better than the utmost Enjoyment of humane Society in the World.

The antidote for mind wandering is meta-awareness, attention to attention itself, as in the ability to notice that you are not noticing what you should, and correcting your focus. Mindfulness makes this crucial attention muscle stronger.12

26. Kieran C. R. Fox, "Is Meditation Associated with Altered Brain Structure? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Morphometric Neuroimaging in Meditation Practitioners," Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 43 (2014): 48–73.

Whenever you notice your mind wandering," a fundamental instruction in meditation advises, "bring your mind back to its point of focus." The operative phrase here is whenever you notice. As our mind drifts off, we almost never notice the moment it launches into some other orbit on its own.

Los pensamientos obsesivos son la leña que alimenta el fuego de la ira, un fuego que sólo podrá extinguirse contemplando las cosas desde un punto de vista diferente

Los indicadores de la autorregulación emocional son, por consiguiente, fáciles de ver: tendencia a reflexionar y a meditar, comodidad ante la ambigüedad y el cambio, y también integridad, es decir, capacidad de reprimir deseos impulsivos.

Lessening the grip of the self, always a major goal of meditation practitioners, has been oddly ignored by meditation researchers, who perhaps understandably focus instead on more popular benefits like relaxation and better health.

If the heart wanders or is distracted," advised Francis de Sales (1567–1622), a Catholic saint, "bring it back to the point quite gently . . . and even if you did nothing during the whole of your hour but bring your heart back . . . though it went away every time, your hour would be very well-employed.

An altered trait—a new characteristic that arises from a meditation practice—endures apart from meditation itself.

Meditation is a catch-all word for myriad varieties of contemplative practice, just as sports refers to a wide range of athletic activities. For both sports and meditation, the end results vary depending on what you actually do.

Practice mindfulness of breathing, which has proven benefits for both for sustaining attention and for the circuitry that calms us down. This combination of calm and concentration creates an optimal inner state for focus and learning.

Instead of being swept away by that stream we can pause and see that these are just thoughts - and choose whether or not to act on them.

it seems likely that the states we practice in meditation gradually spill over into daily life to mold our traits—at least when it comes to handling stress.

el reconocimiento de que nos hemos distraído es el primer paso para recuperar la concentración

El pensamiento profundo requiere de una mente concentrada.

tienen suficiente tiempo libre para pensar. Ese es el entorno más favorable para incubar la creatividad. 5.

all meditation methods at their root are practices in strengthening attention

Capturar uma mente divagante em ação é ardiloso; quase sempre, quando estamos perdidos em pensamentos, não conseguimos perceber que a nossa mente começou a vaguear no momento em que isso aconteceu. Notar que a nossa mente divagou assinala uma mudança na atividade cerebral; quanto maior for esta metaconsciência, mais fraca se torna a divagação da mente.

Não é a tagarelice das pessoas à nossa volta que constitui a fonte mais poderosa das distrações, mas antes a tagarelice das nossas próprias mentes. A concentração absoluta exige que estas vozes interiores sejam silenciadas.

O pensamento profundo exige a sustentação de uma mente focada. Quanto mais distraídos estivermos, mais superficiais serão as nossas reflexões; de igual modo, quanto mais curtas forem, maior probabilidade terão de ser triviais.

Solitude gives me a chance to read and think, and now that the memories are coming through again - to rediscover my past, to find out who and what I really am. If anything should go wrong, I'll have at least that.

to be nothing is to enter into totality