Appreciating Your Life Quotes

Zen is really just a reminder to stay alive and to be awake. We tend to daydream all the time, speculating about the future and dwelling on the past. Zen practice is about appreciating your life in this moment. If you are truly aware of five minutes a day, then you are doing pretty well. We are beset by both the future and the past, and there is no reality apart from the here and now. ~ Peter Matthiessen

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Try to keep everything and keep
standing. In the tall grass,
ten thousand shadows. What's past,
all you've been,
will continue its half-life,
a carbon burn searing its way to heaven
through the twisted core of a pine.
At night, memory will roam your skin.
Your dreams will reveal the squirming world
under the lifted stone.
While you sleep, the sea
floods your house, you wake
to silt, long brown weeds
tangled in the sheets. You wake
in the bog, caked with the froth of peat,
stunted as shore pine,
growing a metre a century.

The bog bruised with colour,
muskeg, hardpan, much.
Matted green sphagnum
thick as buffalo fur.
Sinking into, bouyed
by spongy ground;
walking on water.

In time, night after night,
we'll begin to dream of a langsam sea,
waves in slow motion, thickening to sand.
Drenched with satiety we'll be slow
to rise, a metre a century.

Our brown bed is peat,
born of water, flooded,
burning with the smell of earth. ~ Anne Michaels

Fact: If standard of living is your number one objective, quality of life almost never improves. But if quality of life is your number one objective, standard of living invariably improves. ~ Zig Ziglar

Sometime during your life - in fact, very soon - you may find yourself reading a book, and you may notice that a book's first sentence can often tell you what sort of story your book contains. ~ Lemony Snicket

Love is giving, love is learning, love is willing to receive love and love in return, love is not only your bloodline, but love is also everywhere. Love is what you make of it, whether it's the birds singing you a personal melody or the waves in the ocean washing away the hate and turning it into unconditional, endless love. Love is the people who would never think of giving up on you. Love is the people who put your broken pieces back together. Love is when the storm comes - and the wind isn't too friendly, but it's here for a purpose as it blows the branches on the trees. The rain is pounding on the daisy in someone's front yard, yet the daisy weathers the storm and needs that extra shower - after the storm, the ground is still moist, there are still puddles of water and the rain still lingers on, but when you look up there is a rainbow of love. ~ Charlena E. Jackson

Look. Shit happened. Shit's going to keep happening. You don't need me to tell your life isn't fair. You're here because you know it isn't. Life doesn't care what we want out of it; it's up to us to fight for what we want with everything we've got. Seth wanted us to win. He wanted us to make it past the fourth match. I think we owe it to him to perform. Let's show the world what we've got. Let's make this our year. ~ Nora Sakavic

Whatever you desire in your life requires action ~ Akosua Dardaine Edwards

The strength of your life is measured by the strength of your will. ~ Henry Van Dyke

The concern of your brain is not to see the actual nature of reality, but to represent the reality to you in such a way that suits your needs. ~ Abhijit Naskar

Imagine a thousand more such daily intrusions in your life, every hour and minute of every day, and you can grasp the source of this paranoia, this anger that could consume me at any moment if I lost control. ~ Jack Henry Abbott

Anyone who is not on your same evolutionary and spiritual frequency will distance himself from you, while all those who are on the same evolutionary and spiritual frequency as you will come closer to you; you will see how amazing it is to discover that everyone who needs to be by your side will ultimately appear in your life in the most spontaneous and divine manner. That's how powerful the mind is ~ Ricky Martin

Discipline is an index of your lifebook, maintain it properly ~ Myra Yadav, Move On

You can't do sports for the rest of your life; I don't care how good you are. You can be the best ever, but it's still going to go away. ~ Terry Crews

When you first time you fall in love, you think that is going to be your whole life project, loving someone. It burns your brain, you kind of become blind, the moment you see the person you're in love with you want to see that person again and again and again, kiss that person, hug that person. You turn blank to the rest of the world. ~ Gaspar Noe

Every decision in your life is controlled by your beliefs and values. You may not realize it, but you have the power to choose what you believe about your life, people, money and health. You can either choose beliefs that limit you, or beliefs that empower you to move toward success. Your beliefs energize you to create the world you want to live in right now. The key is to be aware of them because what you value determines what you focus on. ~ Tony Robbins

I don't think anyone has the right to intrude in your life, but they do. I would like people to separate the actress and the woman. ~ Ingrid Bergman

This is another one that perplexes me.
"Would you like your milk in a bag?"
"No, I think it's fine inside that plastic jug, but thanks for asking first!! ~ Neil Leckman

But the whole point of liberation is that you get out. Restructure your life. Act by yourself. ~ Jane Fonda

There are moments when things just break apart and not really for very valid reasons, either. But they just change your life and make you go in different directions. ~ Charlotte Rampling

The state fair was all very well, but it shouldn't be the last thing you saw in your life. At first you thought of people like Eloise and Frank and Lillian as runaways, and then, after a bit, you knew they were really scouts. ~ Jane Smiley

As you begin to feel this enormous shift of consciousness, called multisensory perception, emerging in your awareness, you begin to reorient yourself. It's a reorientation that occurs toward yourself as more than a mind and a body; it's a reorientation that occurs toward others; toward your life as meaningful, rather than predetermined. It's a reorientation that occurs toward the universe as alive, wise and compassionate, instead of inert (which means dead) and random. ~ Gary Zukav

You can't control the weather, but that doesn't stop some people from trying. ~ Frank Sonnenberg

In our own storms in life the Savior is our solace and our sanctuary. If we seek peace, we must come unto Him, the Man who suffered for mankind, who committed His life to healing the sick and comforting the disconsolate, is mindful of your sufferings, doubts, and heartaches. Living the gospel does not mean the storms of life will pass us by, but we will be better prepared to face them with serenity and peace. ~ Joseph B. Wirthlin

Choice! The key is choice. You have options. You need not spend your life wallowing in failure, ignorance, grief, poverty, shame, and self-pity. But hold on! If this is true then why have so many among us apparently elected to live in this manner? The answer is obvious. Those who live in unhappy failure have never exercised their options for a better way of life because they have never been aware that had any choices ~ Og Mandino

Sometimes there is no way to hold your life together. Sometimes things just have to fall apart. ~ Katherine Center

She walks with the knowledge that, no matter what, she's not one of you. She loves you, but not your people. You love her, but not the life she wants. you long for a world where you can walk with her and she with you and know that you will never need anything else.
I can give you, and everyone, a world like that. I ask you not to believe me... only to listen. ~ Sam Sykes

When darkness comes and eats the light,
bury your fears on sorry night.
Because in the winter's darkest hours,
comes the feasting of the Vours.
You cannot see it, the life they stole.
Your body's there, but not your soul. ~ Simon Holt

I've always avoided publicity. I've never been good copy at any stage of my life. I don't strive for it, because I don't think it's important whether I'm good copy or not. The two can go together, if that's your personality, but every person on this earth is unique. ~ Chuck Noll

The damaging part of learning to live your life in two parts , whether in reality or fantasy, cannot be underestimated. It is an infectious skill that you learned, one that would eventually spread beyond the bedroom of your life. Life wasn't ever what it seemed on the surface. Nothing could be trusted for what it appeared to be. After all, you weren't what you appeared to be. In learning to hide part of yourself, you lost the ability to trust anything or anyone fully. Without knowing it, you traded humane innocence for dry cynicism. ~ Alan Downs

Your soul is always trying to guide you in your true life direction towards your highest good and greatest happiness. ~ Catherine Carrigan

Once you stand in your own authenticity, you release the flow of sensuality that frees you to be who you were meant to be. ~ Lebo Grand

A year from now, everything you're stressing about won't mean a thing. Be thankful, smile more, spend more time with family and don't stress the small things. This is our one chance at life. Don't let anyone or anything take away your happiness. ~ Nitya Prakash

Sometimes we get so wrapped up in things that we find fascinating or become so consumed by mundane responsibilities that we lose sight of God's objectives. As you consistently focus your life on the most basic principles, you will gain an understanding of what you are to do, and you will produce more fruit for the Lord and more happiness for yourself. ~ Richard G. Scott

Life starts and it ends with a breath, in between these two breaths lays a story; a child is born and explores the world; the child smiles and cries; the child lives and becomes a man; the man learns that life is neither good or bad, just beautiful the way it is.
Life ends on this earth by letting go of the first breath, because the man knows that letting go is the path that leads to freedom; and then life begins again purer than ever. ~ Quetzal

Effective life management isn't about finding more time to fill; it's about recognizing you don't have to do anything you do not choose to do. Hiding a choice behind a "have to" is irresponsible. Everything filling the white space in your life is there because you chose to put it there. We always have the power to say, "No." We just need to be ready to live with the consequences. ~ Joe Jordan

Don't fear; always extend your hand to help others. ~ Debasish Mridha

The man upstairs can take it when we are mad. Swear all you want he can handle it. But do not remember God or whatever almighty force you believe in just when things go wrong. I am sure he would want to know it too when you are happy. The same goes for your friends. Don't dump on them just bad stuff but also share your happiness with them too. ~ Gloria D. Gonsalves

I said I liked sunsets
and he said "you should see the sunrise,"
and told me about open fields in Canada, where he'd been. I listened and he talked and my broken heart ached a little lower and not so hard, and I never told him about it, but I think he knew, for by the end of the night he said he liked that I finally smiled and told me to do so more often, and that was just one of many days that didn't turn out the way I had planned, but just like I needed it to, and that's where I'd like to live.
So it's about the endless possibility of every single day.
Be always on your way. ~ Charlotte Eriksson

Always have a passion in your life. ~ Mithilesh Tiwari

Obviously you live life for yourself and have your choice to believe what you want to believe in, but I know that the Bible can be used to appreciate life. ~ Benjamin Clementine

Don't take purposeless people as your leaders. Their life is like an empty book with a nice cover paper and you have attempted to buy it. Of which use will it be to you for you to read blank pages. ~ Israelmore Ayivor

Everyone should get more involved in exercising, not just for the health benefits, but for the social side too. There are so many different aspects in your life where sport can help. Even if you only go to a class at a local pool, you'll feel the benefits. ~ Jazmin Carlin

It seems that life is all about timing. Sometimes the timing is perfect for something you want, and the events come together perfectly. It's at those times when you think life couldn't get any better. Opportunities are presented to you, and you make the right decisions at the right times. You feel as if your life is gaining speed.

Then suddenly, it seems that the universe changes. You've stepped out of the flow, or time has sped up or slowed down. You try to make things happen even though the timing is wrong, and it's like you're swimming upstream. ~ Alex Z. Moores

So long as you are secure you will count many friends; if your life becomes clouded you will be alone. ~ Ovid

There is a fine line between social networking and wasting your fucking life. ~ Andy Borowitz

The difference between having a job and having a vocation is that a job is some unpleasant work you do in order to make money, with the sole purpose of making money. There are plenty of jobs because there is still a certain amount of dirty work that nobody wants to do, and that therefore they will pay someone to do it. There is essentially less and less of that kind of work because of mechanisation. If you do a job with the sole purpose of making money, you are absurd, because if money becomes the goal–and it does if you work that way–you begin increasingly to confuse it with happiness or with pleasure. Yes, one can take a handful of crisp one dollar bills and practically water your mouth over it, but this is a kind of person who is confused like a Pavlov dog, who salivates on the wrong bell. ~ Alan W. Watts

I would agree with your statement that many of my protagonists are outsiders. I wonder if we all are, and even people who don't think they are, and they're just better at masking it. When we shut our bedroom door at night, however well-integrated we think we are with the rest of society, maybe there's something illusory about that ... ~ David Mitchell