Mindfulness Quotes

We're in charge of our own forgiveness, and the process takes time, patience, and intention. ~ Sharon Salzberg

What benefit will I get if I know one book from cover to cover? - Isn't this filling my mind with the ideas of others and losing creativity?! ~ Mwanandeke Kindembo

When we're present our senses are heightened, and we can enjoy so much more of what we're seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, and feeling. ~ Ora Nadrich

The function of mindfulness is, first, to recognize the suffering and then to take care of the suffering. The work of mindfulness is first to recognize the suffering and second to embrace it. A mother taking care of a crying baby naturally will take the child into her arms without suppressing, judging it, or ignoring the crying. Mindfulness is like that mother, recognizing and embracing suffering without judgement.
So the practice is not to fight or suppress the feeling, but rather to cradle it with a lot of tenderness. When a mother embraces her child, that energy of tenderness begins to penetrate into the body of the child. Even if the mother doesn't understand at first why the child is suffering and she needs some time to find out what the difficulty is, just her acto f taking the child into her arms with tenderness can alreadby bring relief. If we can recognize and cradle the suffering while we breathe mindfully, there is relief already. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

You will always attract the situation that you think about, focus on, meditate upon and that's what law of attraction states. ~ Tonmoy Acharjee

Be still. Be silent. Be soulfully present. In love. With love. As love. ~ Alexandra Domelle

Mindfulness meditation practice will help you discern which thoughts support your goals and well-being and which thoughts are destructive or unhealthy and should be discarded. ~ Benjamin W. Decker

Meditation is not difficult in its concept and essence, but it can present challenges for some. One of the most common is in having the discipline required to stick with it and do it every day, no matter what.

"The good news is that discipline is not something you either have or you don't; it is something you develop. It is a choice. You become disciplined by making the decision, every day, to sit down and meditate, even if it's only for a few minutes. ~ Liberty Forrest

Unfortunately, nothing can protect you from the thoughts in your own head. ~ Katerina Stoykova Klemer

He made me question what was, when for a whole lifetime up till that moment, I accepted the world's excuses. ~ Walter Mosley

Whatever you eye falls on - for it will fall on what you love - will lead you to the questions of your life, the questions that are incumbent upon you to answer, because that is how the mind works in concert with the eye. The things of this world draw us where we need to go. ~ Mary Rose O'Reilley

Fear is an illusionary place we travel to in our minds when we allow ourselves to move away from the heart. ~ Molly Friedenfeld

Injustice lives in the unquiet heart. ~ Nath Jones

Don't think you have to be solemn to meditate. To meditate, well, you have to smile a lot. ~ Nhat Hanh

The Buddha, in recovering his capacity for nonsensual joy, learned that this joy was limitless. He found that if he got himself out of the way, his joy completely suffused his mindful awareness. This gave him the confidence, the stability, the trust, and the means to see clearly whatever presented itself to his mind. In the curious bifurcation of consciousness that meditation develops, where we can be both observer and that which is being observed, the quality of joy that he recovered did not remain an internal object. It was not only a memory or merely a feeling to be observed; it was also a quality of mind that could accompany every moment of mindfulness. The more he accepted the presence of this feeling and the more it toggled between being object and subject, the closer the Buddha came to understanding his true nature. ~ Mark Epstein

There is nectar in your soul. Meditation is the art of discovering that nectar, enriching it and distributing it for the welfare of the humanity. ~ Amit Ray

Making your mind your best friend is the most intellectual choice that any man can make ~ Mohit Dhaka

Living on the verge is not about doing more, but about being more. It isn't about achieving more; it's about experiencing more. It's not about being someone different, as there 's no "better version of you" on the horizon. Everything you're searching for is available to you in this moment. Everything you need is right here on the verge. ~ Cara Bradley

Only the present moment contains life. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

A wave can kill you. Or you can ride it. It's sometimes more dangerous to shy away. You can't live your life in fear. You have to be prepared to get on your board and stand on your feet. If you are in the barrel of a wave you have to ignore the fear. You have to be in that moment. You have to carve on through. You get scared, and the next thing you know you are off your board and smashing your head on a rock. I'm never going to live in fear. ~ Matt Haig

Don't chase after your thoughts as a shadow follows its object. Don't run after your thoughts. Find joy and peace in this very moment . ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Sanskrit has different words to describe love for a brother or sister, love for a teacher, love for a partner, love for one's friends, love of nature, and so on. English has only one word, which leads to never-ending confusion. ~ Sharon Salzberg

Until we define happiness for ourselves, clearly seeing the difference between excitement and joy, for example, our habits will likely not change. We will keep returning to the fruits of our desires. ~ Judson Brewer

Every moment nature is serving fresh dishes with the items of happiness. It is our choice to recognize and taste it. ~ Amit Ray

It's affirming that we can look at any experience from the fullness of our being and get past the shame we carry. ~ Sharon Salzberg

The virtues of free enterprise can become distorted by greed & delusion. ~ Allan Lokos

To just be--to be--amidst all doings, achievings, and becomings. This is the natural state of mind, or original, most fundamental state of being. This is unadulterated Buddha-nature. This is like finding our balance. ~ Lama Surya Das

Am I crazy?" she asked. "I feel like I am sometimes."
"Maybe," he said, rubbing her forehead. "But don't worry about it. You need to be a little bit crazy. Crazy is the price you pay for having an imagination. It's your superpower. Tapping into the dream. It's a good thing not a bad thing. ~ Ruth Ozeki

Judgement is poverty. ~ Ursula K. Le Guin

Give yourself permission to enjoy this present moment. Resist the urge to fill it with I need to's, I shoulds, I coulds. Trying to fill all your present moments is impeding the natural flow of life. ~ Nanette Mathews

Like a child standing in a beautiful park with his eyes shut tight, there's no need to imagine trees, flowers, deer, birds, and sky; we merely need to open our eyes and realize what is already here, who we already are - as soon as we stop pretending we're small or unholy. ~ Bo Lozoff

Each one of you carries the potential to blossom like flowers. When you blossom, petals of your mind open and the fragrance spread far and near. ~ Banani Ray

I'm not here to disagree with people or try to change anyone's mind. I'm just here to accept and love others right where they are – no matter their belief systems or backgrounds. ~ Alaric Hutchinson

The mind which is created quick to love, is responsive to everything that is pleasing, soon as by pleasure it is awakened into activity. Your apprehensive faculty draws an impression from a real object, and unfolds it within you, so that it makes the mind turn thereto. And if, being turned, it inclines towards it, that inclination is love; that is nature, which through pleasure is bound anew within you. ~ Dante Alighieri

If then virtue is something in the soul, and necessarily good, it must be a matter of
mindfulness. For all other qualities of soul are in themselves neither good nor harmful.
As accompanied by forethought or thoughtlessness, they become good or harmful. This
argument shows that virtue, being good, must be a kind of mindfulness. ~ Plato

For sixty years I have been forgetful every minute, but not for a second has this flowing toward me stopped or slowed. ~ Rumi

Mindfulness and fearless presence bring true protection. When we meet the world with recognition, acceptance, investigation, and non-identification, we discover that wherever we are, freedom is possible, just as the rain falls on and nurtures all things equally. ~ Jack Kornfield

A person who looks at the table and can see the universe is a person who can see the way. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Falling in love is not based on the length of time you spend together; it's based on the innate mindfulness of each other's joy. If you are true soul mates, you never meet as strangers, you meet feeling like you've known each other forever. You feel at peace, calm, happy - you feel complete. ~ Char Sharp

You have to remember one life, one death–this one! To enter fully the day, the hour, the moment whether it appears as life or death, whether we catch it on the inbreath or outbreath, requires only a moment, this moment. And along with it all the mindfulness we can muster, and each stage of our ongoing birth, and the confident joy of our inherent luminosity. (24) ~ Stephen Levine

You can't control the universe, but if you learn to practice meditation and mindfulness you may be able to control yourself. ~ Debasish Mridha

Mindfulness is an invitation to change that pattern and to become aware of where we are and how we got here. Mindfulness gives us a chance to listen to the wisdom of our hearts, to notice with more clarity where we get in our own way, and to shift from reacting out of habit to responding from our intentions. ~ Maia Duerr

Mindfulness develops attention, concentration and the ability to simply be present with little or no future orientation, past orientation or goal orientation - choosing to be a human being rather than a human doing. ~ Ian Gawler

The waves in our mind's ocean will keep on dashing against the rocks. The waves are the new thoughts and ideas that take shape in our mind. The rocks in our mind are the firm convictions that have been formed since our childhood. But we must learn to be flexible. It is a great advantage to be flexible rather than rigid in our mind. At the same time we must learn to be mindful. To be mindful is to allow the waves to flow and dash in their natural way. Let each wave flow and dash against each rock! ~ Avijeet Das

Contemplating the goodness within ourselves is a classical meditation, done to bring light, joy, and rapture to the mind. In contemporary times this practice might be considered rather embarrassing, because so often the emphasis is on all the unfortunate things we have done, all the disturbing mistakes we have made. Yet this classical reflection is not a way of increasing conceit. It is rather a commitment to our own happiness, seeing our happiness as the basis for intimacy with all of life. It fills us with joy and love for ourselves and a great deal of self-respect. Significantly, when we do metta practice, we begin by directing metta toward ourselves. This is the essential foundation for being able to offer genuine love to others ~ Sharon Salzberg

Breathe in deeply to bring your mind home to your body. Then look at, or think of, the person triggering this emotion: With mindfulness, you can see that she is unhappy, that she is suffering. You can see her wrong perceptions. You can see that she is not beautiful when she says things that are unkind. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Another way to look at meditation is to view thinking itself as a waterfall, a cascading of thought. In cultivating mindfulness, we are going beyond or behind our thinking, much the way you might find a vantage point in a cave or depression in the rock behind a waterfall. We still see and hear the water, but we are out of the torrent. ~ Jon Kabat-Zinn

We don't sit in meditation to become good meditators. We sit in meditation so that we'll be more awake in our lives. ~ Pema Chodron

If you're living in the present...you only have to deal with what's actually going on in that moment. ~ Sheri Van Dijk

There is nothing spooky about mindfulness. It is simply a state of clear, nonjudgmental, and undistracted attention to the contents of consciousness, whether pleasant or unpleasant. Cultivating this quality of mind has been shown to reduce pain, anxiety, and depression; improve cognitive function; and even produce changes in gray matter density in regions of the brain related to learning and memory, emotional regulation, and self-awareness. ~ Sam Harris

Life is short, so let us make it worthwhile to live. ~ Tonmoy Acharjee

The immense distance between God and humanity is the indispensable backdrop to a Christian idea of revelation. To reduce God to the level of human thought and human imagination, so that we can comprehend God, is to lose a sense of the very thing that distinguishes God as God. ~ A.J. Conyers

Equanimity can be hard to talk about. ~ Sharon Salzberg

When we are mindful, deeply in touch with the present moment, our understanding of what is going on deepens, and we begin to be filled with acceptance, joy, peace and love. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

All beings want to be happy, yet so very few know how. It is out of ignorance that any of us cause suffering, for ourselves or for others ~ Sharon Salzberg

As the grounding effect of breath awareness disengages you from the often-overwhelming chatter of the mind, the level at which you think will seem to transcend the noise. ~ Benjamin W. Decker

You who are journalists, writers, citizens, you have the right and duty to say to those you have elected that they must practice mindfulness, calm and deep listening, and loving speech. This is universal thing, taught by all religions. ~ Nhat Hanh

Mindfulness is a mental activity that in due course eliminates all suffering. ~ Ayya Khema

As those of you with children know, rational parenting is like the Loch Ness Monster. We all hope it's out there somewhere, but we don't know anyone who has actually discovered it (and if we do come across someone who claims to have found it, deep down we think that person is a little off. ~ Holly Sprink

Meditation is about mindfulness and learning to strip away the illusion, revealing your authentic self and connectedness to everything and everyone. ~ Nanette Mathews

The feeling that any task is a nuisance will soon disappear if it is done in mindfulness. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Life is a preparation for the future; and the best preparation for the future is to live as if there were none. ~ Albert Einstein

Habit has two parts, Toni [Packer] says. There is the habit itself (finger biting, smoking, drinking, whatever), and there is the observer who wants to stop, who is also a habit. And there is the conflict, the battle between the desire to indulge, which is an escape from what is, and the desire to stop, which is also a movement away from what is. ~ Joan Tollifson

Mindfulness is not chasing the moment but beautifying the moment. ~ Amit Ray

Enough.
These few words are enough
If not these few words, this breath
If not this breath, this sitting here
This opening to the life we have refused again and again
Until now
Until now. ~ David Whyte

Do not do her work for her. Do not build her up in your mind. She's only one woman. ~ Seth Dickinson

Simply BEING is OKAY you know?
If you make space to 'be', your 'doing' becomes whole and balanced. ~ Kelly Martin

Mindfulness increases the awareness of the Nature of the Mind. If we learn to Control our Mind and Listen to our Souls we can consciously choose to be Joyful instead of sad, Peaceful and Loving, Alert and Relaxed. ~ Natasa Nuit Pantovic

If we stretch ourselves to open our minds, to see our shared humanity with others, we allow ourselves to see the existence of community and generosity in unexpected places. ~ Sharon Salzberg

To meditate with mindful breathing is to bring body and mind back to the present moment so that you do not miss your appointment with life. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Left alone, I am overtaken by the northern void-no wind, no cloud, no track, no bird, only the crystal crescents between peaks, the ringing monuments of rock that, freed from the talons of ice and snow, thrust an implacable being into the blue. In the early light, the rock shadows on the snow are sharp; in the tension between light and dark is the power of the universe. This stillness to which all returns, this is reality, and soul and sanity have no more meaning than a gust of snow; such transience and insignificance are exalting, terrifying, all at once ... Snow mountains, more than sea or sky, serve as a mirror to one's own true being, utterly still, utterly clear, a void, an Emptiness without life or sound that carries in Itself all life, all sound. ~ Peter Matthiessen

You have to look at your own thought forms. Are you sitting around and thinking a lot of negative thoughts? These injure the subtle body. When you hate, when you are angry, you bring that energy through you. ~ Frederick Lenz

Every time you decide to do one thing, you decide not to do another. Keep this in mind when deciding what to do next. What is the consequence of what you are about to do? Will this action, or inaction help or harm you? Stay mindfully present! Empower yourself in the now. ~ Akiroq Brost

A person must make peace with oneself before they will find peace with the world. ~ Kilroy J. Oldster

Being in the present with total awareness allows us to observe it so that we can watch its unfolding as if we were watching the sun rise or set. We don't tell the sun how to do what it knows to do so brilliantly, we simply watch, and we experience what we're seeing with acceptance ~ Ora Nadrich

You cannot control the results, only your actions. ~ Allan Lokos

Mindfulness has to do with waking up and living in harmony with oneself and with the world. It is examining who we are, constantly questioning our views of the world and our place in it, while cultivating appreciation for the fullness of each moment we are alive. It is the direct opposite of taking life for granted. It is empowering as well, because paying attention in this way opens channels to deep reservoirs of creativity, intelligence, imagination, clarity, determination, choice, and wisdom within us. ~ Jon Kabat-Zinn

There is no transcending our minds, only using them optimally. ~ Vironika Tugaleva

Here is a person who knows that in two weeks' time he has to undergo a surgical operation. In the meantime he is feeling no physical pain; he has plenty to eat; he is surrounded by friends and human affection; he is doing work that is normally of great interest to him. But his power to enjoy these things is taken away by constant dread. He is insensitive to the immediate realities around him. His mind is preoccupied with something that is not yet here. It is not as if he were thinking about it in a practical way, trying to decide whether he should have the operation or not, or making plans to take care of his family and his affair if he should die. These decisions have already been made. Rathre, he is thinking about the operation in an entirely futile way, which both ruins his present enjoyment of life an dcontributes nothing to the solution of any problem. But he cannot help himself. ~ Alan W. Watts

Whether it is in your work, or your relationships, or your food choices, or your interaction with any part of nature, or anything that you think, speak, or do, mindfulness has the power to align you with expressing your highest Self, for your personal and our collective highest good.
Via mindfulness we can make the choices today, that will pre-pave the desired outcomes for all of our tomorrows. Via mindfulness we put ourselves in the flow of life, where life is no longer a series of "good" and "bad" moments, but about living with ease, contentment, wellbeing, and inner peace. Ultimately mindfulness requires action, with the first step being to make mindfulness a priority in your life. ~ Evita Ochel

When we identify the thoughts that keep us from seeing others as they truly are we prepare the ground for real love. ~ Sharon Salzberg

Life is like a steely knife. We can use it for something that will bring something valuable to this world or we can use if for something that will take away something valuable from this world. ~ Tomas Veres

We train ourselves all through our life to waste energy following our inner narratives. We are often unconsciously driven by our fears, worries and fantasies. Enter the space of Awareness of the present moment with no emotional filters, no regrets nor hopes, no daydreaming and no nightmares. ~ Natasa Nuit Pantovic

We have a tendency to become detached observers rather than participants. There might also be a sense of disassembling a complex, flowing process to focus on a small part of it. If we expand our focus to include emerging, one of the first changes we may notice is the bodily sense of being in the midst of something, of constant motion, lack of clarity (in the left-hemisphere sense), and unpredictability. ~ Bonnie Badenoch

When we forgive someone, we don't pretend that the harm didn't happen or cause us pain. We see it clearly for what it was, but we also come to see that fixating on the memory of harm generates anger and sadness. ~ Sharon Salzberg

Mindfulness meditation is the embrace of any and all mind states in awareness, without preferring one to another. ~ Jon Kabat-Zinn

When we ground ourselves in the present moment, we spontaneously connect better with others. We become more responsive and less reactive, listening more deeply and speaking with greater clarity. ~ Lama Surya Das

The mind confines our outlooks to a mere bundles of desires, pleasures, prejudices, and fears to safeguard the body it inhabits. ~ Rajeev Kurapati

Mindfulness practice can teach us about the nature of thinking, and perhaps even more importantly, it can teach us that we are not our thoughts. ~ Benjamin W. Decker

One reason the concept of becoming better can scare us is that it requires us to step out of a place that we recognize and have possibly grown comfortable with. ~ Sara Milne Rowe

If we are able to take responsibility for our own mind, then we can work with whatever life throws at us without resentment or blame, and with the curiosity and self-care that are necessary for mindfulness to develop in all aspects of life. On this basis, we can also help others. ~ Ethan Nichtern

I learned that when we can be absolutely present like this, our mind, body and spirit become integrated and we are fully conscious, energised, peaceful, alive, at one with the true essence of what it is to be ourselves. In that moment, we can relate with compassion to those around us
and to ourselves. It is when what we have satisfies us, and when what we don't have doesn't matter. ~ Pam Billinge

[Some scientific] experiments ... tell us that what we consider the objective world depends in some measure on our own conscious processes. There is no fixed eternal reality ... ... ... true understanding is not to be achieved with the rational mind. ~ Larry Dossey

The little things? The little moments? They aren't little. ~ Jon Kabat-Zinn

(from now on I'll use the term "mindfulness" to refer to keeping one's consciousness alive to the present reality), then one must practice right now in one's daily life, not only during meditation sessions. When ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

No connection is always easy or free of strife, no matter how many minutes a day we meditate. It's how we relate to conflict, as well as to our differing needs and expectations, that makes our relationships sustainable. ~ Sharon Salzberg

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. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

If life seems tedious, there is always beautiful nature outside with birds chirping, gentle wind flowing, sun shining where we can seek joy from and get elated. ~ Tonmoy Acharjee

Mindfulness isn't inherently Eastern, just as electricity isn't inherently Western. Mindfulness is a quality of presence that's innate in all human beings. ~ Shamash Alidina

George Washington Carver explained, "Anything will give up its secrets if you love it enough." Mindfulness is this kind ~ Jack Kornfield