Mindfulness

Attention is a magical thing that can transform your life

• I think the one lesson I have learned is that there is no substitute for paying attention.  Diane Sawyer      
• Life is denied by lack of attention, whether it be to cleaning windows or trying to write a masterpiece. Nadia Boulanger 
• The capacity for delight is the gift of paying attention. Julia Cameron
• To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work.   Mary Oliver
• Living mindlessly . . . takes an enormous toll.  What we get from each moment depends on the attention we give it, and the quality of our experience reflects the quality of our awareness.  Roger Walsh

Mindulfulness is about deepening your attention and awareness...

• We hear the word “mindful” more and more these days, but what does it actually mean? Being mindful simply means having good control over your attention: you can place your attention wherever you want and it stays there; when you want to shift it to something else, you can. When your attention is steady, so is your mind: not rattled or hijacked by whatever pops into awareness, but stably present, grounded, and unshakable. Attention is like a spotlight, and what it illuminates streams into your mind and shapes your brain. Consequently, developing greater control over your attention is perhaps the single most powerful way to reshape your brain and thus your mind. Rick Hanson
• Observe what is with undivided awareness.  Bruce Lee
• Mindfulness is the practice of noticing.  Adyashanti
• Mindfulness is awareness and it's cultivated by paying attention.  Jon Kabat- Zinn
• I think the one lesson I have learned is that there is no substitute for paying attention.  Diane Sawyer
• Mindfulness: The trait of staying aware (paying close attention to) your responsibilities and/or being present in the moment.  Webster Dictionary
• Remember one thing: meditation means awareness. Whatsoever you do with awareness is meditation. Action is not the question, but the quality that you bring to your action. Walking can be a meditation if you walk alertly. Sitting can be a meditation if you listen with awareness. Just listening to the inner noise of your mind can be a meditation if you remain alert and watchful. Osho

... especially your attention to the present moment ...

• Mindfulness is at the heart of Buddhist meditation practices that teach followers to pay attention to the present moment—defining it as the only moment that exists, in which we exist, an ever- present “now”. Through meditation, you can learn to focus on the present and not worry about the future or regret the past. In letting go of day-to-day preoccupations, you are left with an appreciation of the big picture, the joy of being alive right now, and the recognition of breath, mind, body, and inner spirit.  Alison Conte
• Mindfulness practice means that we commit fully in each moment to be present; inviting ourselves to interface with this moment in full awareness, with the intention to embody as best we can an orientation of calmness, mindfulness, and equanimity right here and right now.  Jon Kabat-Zinn
• Mindfulness means being in the present moment, but slightly detached.  It means fully absorbing your thoughts, feelings, and experiences without being swept away by them.  Dr. Richard O'Connor
• Mindfulness is about stopping and being present, that is all.  Jon Kabat Zinn
• Mindfulness was experienced as not holding onto the past, the future, or 'nowness:' but relaxing into the immediacy of whatever was happening.  B. Alan Wallace
• Mindfulness practice means that we commit fully in each moment to be present; inviting ourselves to interface with this moment in full awareness, with the intention to embody as best we can an orientation of calmness, mindfulness, and equanimity right here and right now.  Jon Kabat-Zinn
• Mindfulness, simply stated, means paying attention to what is actually happening; it's about what is really going on.  Nell Newman
• Mindulness is the cultivation of awareness, bringing the attention to the moment over and over until there is a constant consciousness. This awareness is without comment, without discrimination, without judgment ...   Steven Harrison
• To be mindful is to be fully in the present moment. William Alexander
• Mindfulness refers to keeping one's consciousness alive to the present reality. It is the miracle by which we master and restore ourselves. Thich Nhat Hanh
• No technique, no communication skill or psychological process can come anywhere close to the effectiveness of being 100% present. It is not an easy thing to do. Danaan Parry
• If you are doing mindfulness meditation, you are doing it with your ability to attend to the moment. Daniel Goleman

... accepting things exactly as they are in this moment without judgement

• Mindfulness is the aware, balanced acceptance of the present experience. It isn't more complicated than that. It is opening to or receiving the present moment, pleasant or unpleasant, just as it is, without either clinging to it or rejecting it. Sylvia Boorstein
• Mindfulness is a way of being which involves bringing awareness to the unfolding of present experience, moment-to- moment, with curiosity, openness and acceptance. It involves a process of becoming more aware and accepting towards all your experiences—including the unpleasant ones.  Jon Kabat- Zinn
• Being mindful means that we suspend judgment for a time, set aside our immediate goals for the future, and take in the present moment as it is rather than as we would like it to be.  Mark Williams
• Mindfulness is simply being aware of what is happening right now without wishing it were different; enjoying the pleasant without holding on when it changes (which it will); being with the unpleasant without fearing it will always be this way (which it won’t).  James Baraz
• Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally. Jon Kabat- Zinn
• Mindfulness is paying attention on purpose in the present moment without judgement.  Jon Kabat- Zinn
• It will support and deepen your mindfulness to bring an attitude of curiosity, openness, non- judgmental acceptance, and even a kind of friendliness to the things you’re aware of.    Rick Hanson
• Mindfulness is simply being aware of what is happening right now without wishing it were different; enjoying the pleasant without holding on when it changes (which it will); being with the unpleasant without fearing it will always be this way (which it won’t).  James Baraz
• Mindfulness is deliberately paying full attention to what is happening around you—in your body, heart and mind. Mindfulness is awareness without criticism or judgment. Jan Chozen Bays
• To observe what is the mind must be free of all comparison, of the ideal, of the opposite. Then you will see what actually is far more important than what should be. J. Krishnamurti

Mindfulness is much more than simple concentration

• Some people do not know the difference between mindfulness and concentration. They concentrate on what they're doing, thinking that is being mindful. ... We can concentrate on what we are doing, but if we are not mindful at the same time, with the ability to reflect on the moment, then if somebody interferes with our concentration, we may blow up, get carried away by anger at being frustrated. If we are mindful, we are aware of the tendency to first concentrate and then to feel anger when something interferes with that concentration. With mindfulness we can concentrate when it is appropriate to do so and not concentrate when it is appropriate not to do so. Ajahn Sumedho

Mindfulness brings rich rewards ...

• Mindfulness is being aware of yourself, others, and your surroundings in the moment.  When consciously and kindly focusing awareness on life as it unfolds minute by precious minute, you are better able to savor each experience.  Also, being closely attentive gives you the opportunity to change unwise or painful feelings and responses quickly.  In fact, being truly present in a mindful way is an excellent stress reducer and, because of that, can be seen as consciousness conditioning, a strengthening workout for body, mind, heart, and spirit.  Sue Patton Thoele
• Mindfulness makes our eyes, our heart, our non-toothache, the moon, and the trees deep and beautiful.  And when we touch our suffering with mindfulness, we begin to transform it.  Mindfulness is like a mother holding her baby in her arms and caring for her baby’s pain.  When our pain is held by mindfulness it loses some of its strength. . . . Mindfulness recognizes what is there, and concentration allows you to be deeply present with whatever it is.  Concentration is the ground of happiness.  If you live twenty-four hours a day in mindfulness and concentration, one day is a lot.  Thich Nhat Hanh

Mindfulness brings greater happiness, peace and health

• A series of studies conducted at the University of Rochester focused on people high in mindfulness - that is, those who are prone to be mindfully attentive to the here and now and keenly aware of their surroundings.  It turns out that such individuals are models of flourishing and positive mental health.  Relative to the average person, they are more likely to be happy, optimistic, self- confident, and satisfied with their lives and less likely to be depressed, angry, anxious or self- conscious.  Sonja Lyubomirsky
• Later studies showed that if “normal” people practiced mindfulness, they experienced the kinds of brain changes that are associated with positive moods, and their immune systems were strengthened.  I would like to point out here that if a patentable drug were showing such results, the drug company owning the patent would soon become the richest in the land, and we would be seeing at least three television commercials per night touting its benefits.  But because mindfulness seems so simple, yet at the same time requires self- discipline, it’s not going to generate such heat.  Dr. Richard O'Connor
• The foundation of happiness is mindfulness. Thich Nhat Hanh
• The capacity for delight is the gift of paying attention. Julia Cameron
• Mindfulness is the cure for everything; the essence of being alive. Ellen Langer
• To be mindfully engaged is the most natural, creative state we can be in. Ellen Langler
• Mindfulness helps you go home to the present. And every time you go there and recognize a condition of happiness that you have, happiness comes. Thich Nhat Hanh
• Studies have shown that being mindful increases activation of the left prefrontal cortex and thus lifts mood (since that part of the brain puts the brakes on negative emotions) and it decreases activation of the amygdala, the alarm bell of the brain.  Rick Hanson
• The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it. Thích Nhất Hạnh
• If you want to conquer the anxiety of life, live in the moment, live in the breath.  Amit Ray

Mindfulness can help you discover much about yourself ...

• Mindfulness also means deliberately learning to use your mind in a new way.  It’s learning to watch your mind at work, looking at yourself with compassionate curiosity.  Compassion, like a close friend, suffers with us a little but also sees the patterns that we’re normally too close to see.  Curiosity shows us that there’s really nothing to be afraid of in our own heads, but a lot we could learn.   Richard O'Connor
• The highest form of human intelligence is to observe yourself without judgement.  Jiddu Krishnamurti
• Self-observation is the first step of inner unfolding.  Amit Ray

... especially the workings of your own mind

• The habit of ignoring our present moments in favor of others yet to come leads directly to a pervasive lack of awareness of the web of life in which we are embedded. This includes a lack of awareness and understanding of our own mind and how it influences our perceptions and our actions. It severely limits our perspective on what it means to be a person and how we are connected to each other and the world around us.   Jon Kabat-Zinn
• Mindfulness, then, is the unfailing master key for knowing the mind, and is thus the starting point; the perfect tool for shaping the mind, and is thus the focal point; the lofty manifestation of the achieved freedom of the mind, and is thus the culminating point. Nyanaponika Thera.
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• Mindfulness helps you witness your life experiences without being swept away by them
• Mindfulness has lots of benefits. It brings important information about what’s happening around you and inside you. It helps you witness your experience without being swept away by it, and to hold it in a larger context; as your mindful awareness increases, negative experiences have less impact on you.  Rick Hanson
• You can only look deeply into something if you can sustain your looking without being constantly thrown off by distractions or by the agitation of your own mind. The deeper your concentration, the deeper the potential for mindfulness. Jon Kabat- Zinn

Mindfulness allows you to experience the world more directly and more deeply 

• Get out of our heads and learn to experience the world directly, experientially, without the relentless commentary of our thoughts. We might just open ourselves up to the limitless possibilities for happiness that life has to offer us . Mark Williams
• Listen – life is really going on, right now, around us. Do you see it? Sometimes I lose it but if I sit still and listen, it comes back, and then I think, How funny, this is what being alive is. Robin Morgan
• In this way, little by little, moment by moment, life can slip by without us being fully here for it. Always preoccupied with getting somewhere else, we are hardly ever where we actually are and attentive to what is actually unfolding in this moment.  Mark Williams
• Meditation allows us to directly participate in our lives instead of living life as an afterthought. Stephen Levine
• 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

Mindfulness makes you more fully alive

• Was there ever a time when you felt suddenly alive?  It was like the doors of the world opened for a minute and you could see directly into life. You were able to touch life directly and were not lost in your fears and worries.  This experience may not have been during a big event like performing in a play or playing in a championship game; it may have been while walking in the woods or talking to a friend.  All of a sudden you felt alive, awake. This quality of waking up, or penetrating into life, we could call mindfulness. Mindfulness simply means being aware, being present.  When you are breathing and know that you are breathing, that is mindfulness of breathing. Soren Gordhamer
• While driving on the Ohio Turnpike I saw a sign exhorting drivers.   "Stay Awake, Stay Alive," it cried.  These words, it seems to me, have even deeper significance as a way of life.  The more awake we are to what goes on around us the more alive we will be.  Being wide awake opens the way to experiencing the infinite riches of body, mind, heart and spirit.  Wilferd A. Peterson
• 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. Stephen Levine.

Mindfulness can make you less reactionary to your emotions and impulses

• Practice makes us more observant and deliberate; we become more thoughtful about reacting to emotions and impulses; more curious, ready to look beneath the surface, not so hasty about jumping to conclusions; kinder, more patient, more tolerant of others and ourselves. One of the key elements in mindfulness is detaching a little from thoughts, worries, and impulses; not  taking immediate action but expecting that if you take a step back, think, and look inside yourself, you’ll probably make a wiser decision.  Richard O'Connor
• Mindful meditation has been discovered to foster the ability to inhibit those very quick emotional impulses.  Daniel Goleman

Mindfulness opens up creativity, wisdom and intelligence

• I have learned over the years that the most creative and trustworthy actions come from meditative awareness. Eric Klein
• To be mindfully engaged is the most natural, creative state we can be in. Ellen Langler
• Intelligence is the door to freedom and alert attention is the mother of intelligence.  Jon Kabat- Zinn
• If we learn how to inhabit now more - with awareness - then it’s almost as if the universe becomes your teacher. Because there’s no boundary to awareness.  Jon Kabat-Zinn
• Mindfulness of oneself cultivates wisdom. Mindfulness of others cultivates compassion.  Stonepeace

Mindfulness helps you do things differently

• You can't keep saying and doing the same things and expect better results.  When you see your behavior clearly you can frame new responses.  There are many techniques for increasing self- awareness.  Most involve mindfulness-- observing what's happening in the present moment:  your thoughts, emotions, and bodily sensations.  Joan Duncan Oliver
• Mindfulness can be summed up in two words:  pay attention.  Once you notice what you’re doing, you have the power to change it. Michelle Burford

Mindfulness develops your capacity for calm concentration and attention

• Concentration is a cornerstone of mindfulness practice. Your mindfulness will only be as robust as the capacity of your mind to be calm and stable. Without calmness, the mirror of mindfulness will have an agitated and choppy surface and will not be able to reflect things with any accuracy.  Jon Kabat-Zinn
• 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, Paul Bedson
• Mindfulness is the energy that sheds light on all things and all activities, producing the power of concentration, bringing forth deep insight and awakening.  Thich Nhat Hanh

Mindfulness can be done through formal meditation

• Have you ever sat very quietly with closed eyes and watched the movement of your own thinking? Have you watched your mind working? Or rather, has your mind watched itself in operation, just to see what your thoughts are, what your feelings are, how you look at the trees, at the flowers, at the birds, at people, how you respond to a suggestion or react to a new idea? Have you ever done this? Jiddu Krishnamurti
• Mindfulness meditation is sometimes referred to as “living in the now.” This is because you don’t seek to focus your attention on any one single thought, object or sound. Instead, you allow your mind to wander, and you welcome all experiences. However, here is the key: When you practice mindfulness meditation, you’re a detached observer. You don’t react to what you’re witnessing. Rachel Rofe
• When we are engaged in the mindfulness of our body-mind process, we need not choose any mental or physical process as the object of our meditation for if we do this, it means that we are attached to the object of meditation. When we meditate on the body-mind process, the 'noting mind' or 'observing mind' will choose the object itself. Sayadaw U Janakabhivamsa

Mindfulness can also be practiced during everyday activities

• In your everyday life, you can practice this by taking any routine activity that normally is only a means to an end and giving it your fullest attention, so that it becomes an end in itself. Eckhart Tolle
• Make a spot meditation of everyday things. Watering the plant. Brushing your teeth. Walking. Focus on the world of your senses. Be fully aware of moment to moment sense perceptions such as sounds, smells and physical sensations.
• Whatever activity you choose, the point is to focus on the activity itself. Pay attention to the way your body feels. Pay attention to the work in front of you. Pay attention to what you feel (but do not become attached to any feelings).  Rachel Rofe
• Try it for an hour. Every single thing you do should be done mindfully, and given equal importance — whether that’s putting something away, walking from one spot to another, picking up the phone, or talking to someone. Leo Babauta
• Turn your actions into concentrated practices.  Belsebuub
• Restore your attention or bring it to a new level by dramatically slowing down whatever you're doing.  Sharon Salzberg
• Do every act of your life as though it were the very last act of your life.  Marcus Aurelius

Mindfulness allows you to extend your spiritual practice into your daily life ...

• Meditation is a valuable exercise, but eventually you have to open up your eyes and look around.  Dan Millman
• When we pay attention, whatever we are doing...is transformed and becomes a part of our spiritual path. We begin to notice details and textures that we never noticed before' everyday life becomes clearer, sharper, and at the same time more spacious.   Rick Fields et al
• If mindfulness is deeply important to you, then every moment is an opportunity to practice. Jon Kabat-   Zinn
• All life is yoga. Every moment is an opportunity for training the mind. Eknath Easwaran
• If we can only change our vision and the thought, whatever we do becomes spiritual practice. Sri Swami Satchidananda
• This is a time of revolution. There’s no holding back. So I’m about tearing down the monastery walls and seeing the whole world as the monastery, as the practice, as the spiritual temple. What we’re all working on is this very being, this very life. This is the temple, it has no walls. Genpo Roshi
• When experience is viewed in a certain way, it presents nothing but doorways into the soul.  Jon Kabat- Zinn
• Zen is not some kind of excitement, but concentration on our usual everyday routine.  Shunryu Suzuki
• . . . I feel we don’t really need scriptures. The entire life is an open book, a scripture. Read it. Learn while digging a pit or chopping some wood or cooking some food. If you can’t learn from your daily activities, how are you going to understand the scriptures?   Swami Satchidananda

... transforming the ordinary and mundane into something special and sacred

• Could all of us reclaim lost hours of our lives by making everything—the commonplace along with the extraordinary—a part of our practice? George Leonard
• How can you make more of the mundane moments a part of your practice? Brian Johnson
• You can find the sacred in the most ordinary of things. Oprah Winfrey
• Every normal function of life holds some delight. Will Durant
• 90% of life is little things.  Be present in them.  Eckhart Tolle
• By changing the way you do routine things you allow a new man to grow inside you.  Paulo Coelho
• When he is forced to perform the same task several times, the Warrior uses this tactic and transforms work into prayer. Paulo Coelho
• The little things? The little moments? They aren't little.  Jon Kabat-Zinn
• Zen is not some kind of excitement, but concentration on our usual everyday routine.  Shunryu Suzuki
• Ritual is routine infused with mindfulness. It is habit made holy. Kent Nerburn
• The little things? The little moments? They aren't little.  Jon Kabat-Zinn

The big thing about mindfulness is remembering to be mindful

• Mindfulness isn't difficult, we just need to remember to do it.  Sharon Salzberg
• ...it is often more difficult to remember to be mindful than to be mindful itself. Donald Rothberg

Enter into mindfulness by focusing on the breath ...

• Most of the time, we think too much, and mindful breathing helps us to be calm, relaxed, and peaceful. Thich Nhat Hanh
• ...breathing deeply and regularly is not only the key to remaining calm, but also instantly connects us to a higher vibration. When we’re stressed or fearful, we tend to hold our breath, which cuts us off from our Higher Self and our intuitive vibes. Sonia Choquette
• Remind yourself to breathe deeply through your nose and into your abdomen. Breathe out through your mouth, slowly. This relaxes and releases stress. Focus on your breath and notice your body and mind saying goodbye to tension. Henri Junttila
• Our way to practice is one step at a time, one breath at a time.  Shunryu Suzuki
• An upright posture and a few relaxed breaths can make a great difference. Buddhist Meditation Master

... allowing your breath to become your anchor to the present moment

• Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor.  Thich Nhat Hanh
• It helps to have a focus for your attention, an anchor line to tether you to the present moment and to guide you back when the mind wanders. The breath serves this purpose exceedingly well. It can be a true ally. Bringing awareness to our breathing, we remind ourselves that we are here now, so we might as well be fully awake for whatever is already happening. Jon Kabat-Zinn

... and the link between your body and your mind

• Breathing in and out is very important, and it is enjoyable. Our breathing is the link between our body and our mind. Sometimes our mind is thinking of one thing and our body is doing another, and mind and body are not unified. By concentrating on our breathing, “In” and “Out,” we bring body and mind back together, and become whole again. Conscious breathing is an important bridge. Thich Nhat Hanh
• Breath is the bridge which connects life to consciousness, which unites your body to your thoughts. Whenever your mind becomes scattered, use your breath as the means to take hold of your mind again. Thich Nhat Hanh

Incorporate mindful breaths into your day

• Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths, or the turning inwards in prayer for five short minutes. Etty Hillesum
• Do one minute of mindfulness (15 mindful breaths) each hour of the day.
• Take 5 mindful breaths upon waking and before going to sleep.
• Regularly become aware of the movement of the breath, particularly noticing if breathing has become shallow or irregular.

Enter into mindfulness by bringing awareness to your body

• Attention to the human body brings healing and regeneration. Through awareness of the body we remember who we really are. Jack Kornfield
• The mind’s first step to self-awareness must be through the body. George Sheehan
• Mindfulness of the body is awareness of... the taste and smell of this moment. Steve Hagen

Enter into mindfulness by paying attention to your senses

• You can stop and pay attention to the present moment at least five different times during the day (not counting your meditation sessions). That way you can pay attention to a different sense every time. In other words, rotate through your senses all through the day. Rachel Rofe
• Be fully aware of moment to moment sense perceptions such as sounds, smells and physical sensations.
• Notice, look, feel, listen, sense, and give yourself fully to the experience you are having, and you will drop into the Now. Gina Lake
• In the name of God, stop a moment, cease your work, look around you. Leo Tolstoy
• Get out of the attic of your mind and into the world of wonder and senses.  Eckhart Tolle
• Use your senses fully. Be where you are. Look around. Just look, don’t interpret. See the light, shapes, colors, textures. Be aware of the silent presence of each thing. Be aware of the space that allows everything to be. Listen to the sounds; don’t judge them. Listen to the silence underneath the sounds. Touch something - anything - and feel and acknowledge its Being. Observe the rhythm of your breathing; feel the air flowing in and out, feel the life energy inside your body. Allow everything to be, within and without. Allow the “isness” of all things. Move deeply into the Now. Eckhart Tolle
• The senses are fundamentally the only way we can know the world.  Jon Kabat-Zinn
• Sense perception is closer to who you are than thought. Eckhart Tolle
• The sense perception is the foreground and the awareness of the perceiver is the background. The background is an underlying stillness, an awareness of the "I am." Eckhart Tolle

Enter into mindfulness by looking deeply at things without needing to label or judge them

• The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself.  Henry Miller
• If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change. Buddha
• Even a stone, and more easily a flower or a bird, could show you the way back to God, to the Source, to yourself. When you look at it or hold it and let it be without imposing a word or mental label on it, a sense of awe, of wonder, arises within you. Its essence silently communicates itself to you and reflects your own essence back to you. Eckhart Tolle
• You can only look deeply into something if you can sustain your looking without being constantly thrown off by distractions or by the agitation of your own mind. The deeper your concentration, the deeper the potential for mindfulness. Jon Kabat- Zinn

Mindfulness is all about awareness and noticing

• Observe what is with undivided awareness.  Bruce Lee
• Mindfulness is the practice of noticing.  Adyashanti
• Mindfulness is awareness and it's cultivated by paying attention.  Jon Kabat- Zinn
• Let us not look back in anger or forward in fear, but around in awareness. James Thurber
• Awareness in itself is healing. Fritz Pearls
• There is no mental or physical process that should not be observed or that we should not be mindful of as it is. Each and every mental or physical process or phenomenon must be observed, watched as it is. Sayadaw U Janakabhivamsa

Mindfulness is about being awake

• Those who are awake live in a state of constant amazement.  Shakyamuni Buddha
• Mindfulness is about falling awake rather than asleep. Relaxation is more of a side effect. Mindfulness is about being in the present, taking things one moment at a time and being aware of whatever arises – not creating a pleasant experience.  Shamash Alidina
• To be awake is to be alive. Henry David Thoreau

Notice how your mind and body feel throughout the day through regular mindful check-ins

• A moment of stopping, turning inside, checking yourself out, noticing how you feel, and observing your thoughts without buying into them, is a profoundly significant moment. It will give you the power to act from a resourceful, skilled place.  Sally Kempton
• Note how the mind and body feel throughout the day in various circumstances; noticing the body posture, sensations, and areas of tension.

Notice judgements you make and your reactions to them

• Notice automatic judgments as they occur (“positive”, “negative”, or “neutral”), and the habitual reactions connected to them: do you contract from the unpleasant, cling to the pleasant, and become bored with the neutral? Begin to develop awareness of the effects that these automatic reactions may be having on you. NDSU Counseling Center

Notice any multi-tasking

• Notice when you are “multi-tasking’, and note the contrast in feeling when you bring yourself to fully attend to one thing at a time.

Make walking into a mindfulness practice ...

• Walking is an ancient meditation posture.
• You can make the focus of your concentration ‘wide-angle’— that is, all the sensations you experience while you walk. Alternatively, you can ‘zoom’ your focus very specifically on the sensations of your feet touching the ground. Just as with breathing, the more you focus, the more detail you become aware of. David Michie
• The difference between walking as a form of meditation and just regular walking is that you are not trying to get anywhere. Instead it is about being fully there with every step.
• Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet.  Thich Nhat Hanh
• Mindfully experience your foot, the ground and the connection between your foot and the ground.  Thich Nhat Hanh

... by attending to the experience of walking itself instead of the thoughts in your mind

• One thing that you find out when you have been practicing mindfulness for a while is that nothing is quite as simple as it appears.  This is as true for walking as it is for anything else.  For one thing, we carry our mind around with us when we walk, so we are usually absorbed in our own thoughts to one extent or another.  We are hardly ever just walking, even when we are just going out for a walk.  Walking meditation involves intentionally attending to the experience of walking itself.  This brings your attention to the actual experience of walking as you are doing it, focusing on the sensations in your feet and legs, feeling your whole body moving.  You can also integrate awareness of your breathing with the experience.  John Kabat-Zinn

Turn exercising into a mindfulness practice

• Instead of zoning out or staring at a TV as you exercise, try focusing your attention on your body. If you’re resistance training, for example, focus on coordinating your breathing with your movements and pay attention to how your body feels as you raise and lower the weights.  Robert and Jeanne Segal

Make giving into a mindfulness practice

• Generosity is another quality which, like patience, letting go, non-judging, and trust, provides a solid foundation for mindfulness practice. You might experiment with using the cultivation of generosity as a vehicle for deep self- observation and inquiry as well as an exercise in giving. A good place to start is with yourself. See if you can give yourself gifts that may be true blessings, such as self- acceptance, or some time each day with no purpose. Practice feeling deserving enough to accept these gifts without obligation-to simply receive from yourself, and from the universe.   Jon Kabat- Zinn
• Cultivating a generous spirit starts with mindfulness.  Nell Newman

Be mindful in your relationships

• The most precious gift we can offer anyone is our attention. When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers.  Thich Nhat Hanh
• It's almost impossible to really know someone.  You have to get out of your own way an awful lot to not just see the projections on to that person of your own mind.  Jon Kabat-Zinn
• Listen deeply  to others, giving them your full attention, without multi- tasking or thinking about what you are going to say next.
• Speak mindfully: pausing before speaking, asking yourself “Is it necessary? Is it harmful? Is it true?”
• In a true you-and-I relationship, we are present mindfully, nonintrusively, the way we are present with things in nature.We do not tell a birch tree it should be more like an elm. We face it with no agenda, only an appreciation that becomes participation: 'I love looking at this birch' becomes 'I am this birch' and then 'I and this birch are opening to a mystery that transcends and holds us both.  David Richo

Use mindfulness to regain inner harmony after losing it

• Begin with the small things. We tend to let ourselves get bothered by the little, meaningless things that happen every day. For example, somebody beeps at you at the stoplight. As these little things happen, you will notice your energy change. The moment you feel a change, relax your shoulders and relax the area around your heart. The moment the energy moves, you simply relax and release. Play with letting go and falling behind this sense of being bothered. Michael Singer
• If you can learn to remain centered with the smaller things, you will see that you can also remain centered with the bigger things. Over time, you will find that you can even remain centered with the really big things. Michael Singer
• When force of circumstance upsets your equanimity, lose no time in recovering your self- control, and do not remain out of tune longer than you can help. Habitual recurrence to the harmony will increase your mastery of it. Marcus Aurelius
• If, in the fray, the soldier drops his sword, In fright, he swiftly takes it up again. So, likewise, if the arm of mindfulness is lost, In fear of hell, I’ll quickly get it back!  Bodhisattva
• When you find yourself off balance and life has kicked you in the butt, see how fast you can get back in balance. The more you practice this, the better you’ll get. Brian Johnson

Use mindfulness to manage negative emotions like anger and fear

• Focus attention on the feeling inside you. Know that it is the pain-body. Accept that it is there. Don't think about it -  don't let the feeling turn into thinking. Don't judge or analyze. Don't make an identity for yourself out of it. Stay present, and continue to be the observer of what is happening inside you. Become aware not only of the emotional pain but also of "the one who observes," the silent watcher. This is the power of the Now, the power of your own conscious presence. Then see what happens. Eckhart Tolle
• We must become acquainted with our emotional household: we must see our feelings as they actually are, not as we assume they are. This breaks their hypnotic and damaging hold on us.  Vernon Howard
• Watch your emotional responses with detachment (i.e. sense their physiological effect on your body and breathing.) Observe them. Feel them but calmly, not tensed up. The emotion will move through you and soften up. Unblock emotions in this way. Bob Parsons
• Your practice is to become a curious witness to your feelings so that feelings become more familiar and less scary. Ultimately, you will notice that feelings aren’t permanent, that they change and move through us, if we let them.  Rivka Simmons

Use mindfulness to manage pain

• Mindfulness is much more than simply being aware. We can be aware of pain without being at all mindful of it. Mindfulness is a particular kind of awareness, which is purposeful, focused, curious, and rooted in our moment- by- moment experience. Bodhipaksa
• In mindfulness meditation we observe more than just any pain that may happen to be present. We become aware of the whole physical body, emotions, and thoughts, and of how each of these interacts with the others. One thing we can then begin to see is that although pain is present in our experience it isn’t the whole of our experience. Mindfulness gives us a sense of the physical and mental “landscape” within which our pain is experienced, and which helps to give a sense of perspective to our experience of it.  Bodhipaksa
• When we touch our suffering with mindfulness, we begin to transform it.  Mindfulness is like a mother holding her baby in her arms and caring for her baby’s pain.  When our pain is held by mindfulness it loses some of its strength...  Thich Nhat Hanh

See mindfulness as necessary mental hygiene

• Do we ever question the need to brush our teeth?  Or say, "today I do not have time for brushing teeth?"  Can we go a week without brushing?  What that would be like?  Please imagine it right now.  How will the mouth and teeth feel?  Do we believe if we brush teeth we will never need a dentist?  And how about putting in a comparable amount of time, energy and regular practice to keep the mind clear, fresh, and refreshed?  Or regularly brushing and clearing the mind from harmful residue?  I view Mindfulness as a way of maintaining mental hygiene the same way brushing is needed for dental hygiene.  And, from time to time, we may even need professional help for best results.  Rezvan Ameli

Mindfulness can have a powerful spiritual dimension ...

• The habit of ignoring our present moments in favor of others yet to come leads directly to a pervasive lack of awareness of the web of life in which we are embedded. This includes a lack of awareness and understanding of our own mind and how it influences our perceptions and our actions. It severely limits our perspective on what it means to be a person and how we are connected to each other and the world around us. Religion has traditionally been the domain of such fundamental inquiries within a spiritual framework, but mindfulness has little to do with religion, except in the most fundamental meaning of the word, as an attempt to appreciate the deep mystery of being alive and to acknowledge being vitally connected to all that exists. Jon Kabat-Zinn
• When experience is viewed in a certain way, it presents nothing but doorways into the soul.  Jon Kabat-   Zinn
• Try to be mindful, and let things take their natural course. Then your mind will become still in any surroundings, like a clear forest pool. All kinds of wonderful, rare animals will come to drink at the pool, and you will clearly see the nature of all things. You will see many strange and wonderful things come and go, but you will be still.  Ajahn Chah
• Enlightenment is the result of the daily practice of mindfulness. Shinjo Ito

... one that is free of unnecessary belief and ideology

• Mindfulness is not concerned with anything transcendent or divine. It serves as an antidote to theism, a cure for sentimental piety, a scalpel for excising the tumor of metaphysical belief. Stephen Batchelor

More thoughts on mindfulness

• You can't stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.  Jon Kabat-Zinn
• Mindfulness is about falling awake rather than asleep.  Shamash Alidina
• This is the real secret of life ~ to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play. Alan Watts 
• The purpose of meditation practice is not enlightenment; it is to pay attention even at extraordinary times, to be of the present, nothing- but-in-the-present, to bear this mindfulness of now into each event of ordinary life.  Peter Matthiessen
• People are at their most mindful when they are at play.  If we find ways of enjoying our work blurring the lines between work and play the gains will be greater.  Ellen Langer
• Mindfulness is not just a word or a discourse by the Buddha, but a meaningful state of mind. It means we have to be here now, in this very moment, and we have to know what is happening internally and externally. It means being alert to our motives and learning to change unwholesome thoughts and emotions into wholesome ones Mindfulness is a mental activity that in due course eliminates all suffering.  Ayya Khema
• A few years ago, I sat on my son's bedroom floor folding some baby clothes that he'd outgrown.  I could feel the sadness and regret creeping in, but I wanted so badly to feel OK about the passage of time.  I quickened my pace to push the pain away.  I wanted the moment to be over.  Suddenly, though, I looked up and notices a very blue sky staring down through the window.  Just feel it, I said to myself, as I slowed down, trying to focus on the task in front of me. I held a shirt close to my face and inhaled as deeply as I could. My heart seemed to crack and fill up at the same time as feelings of hope and loss collided right there in a pile of little boy's old clothes.  When I finally got up to leave the room, I wasn't sad anymore.  Instead, I thought about the miraculous growth of a child, whose shirt size is less about loss and more about the gift of life itself. I don't know if you can live inside each and every moment.  But when you can, try to stop, look, and listen long enough to be right where you are, not in your past, not in your future.  Just right in the middle of a split second in time.  Leslie Levine
• If someone comes along and shoots an arrow into your heart, it’s fruitless to stand there and yell at the person. It would be much better to turn your attention to the fact that there’s an arrow in your heart...  Pema Chödrön
• Feelings, whether of compassion or irritation, should be welcomed, recognized, and treated on an absolutely equal basis; because both are ourselves. The tangerine I am eating is me. The mustard greens I am planting are me. I plant with all my heart and mind. I clean this teapot with the kind of attention I would have were I giving the baby Buddha or Jesus a bath. Nothing should be treated more carefully than anything else. In mindfulness, compassion, irritation, mustard green plant, and teapot are all sacred.  Thích Nhất Hạnh
• 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.  Stephen Levine
• As we encounter new experiences with a mindful and wise attention, we discover that one of three things will happen to our new experience: it will go away, it will stay the same, or it will get more intense. whatever happens does not really matter.  Jack Kornfield
• Mindfulness, also called wise attention, helps us see what we’re adding to our experiences, not only during meditation sessions but also elsewhere. Sharon Salzberg
• We use mindfulness to observe the way we cling to pleasant experiences and push away unpleasant ones.  Sharon Salzberg
• Most of us take for granted that time flies, meaning that it passes too quickly. But in the mindful state, time doesn't really pass at all. There is only a single instant of time that keeps renewing itself over and over with infinite variety.  Deepak Chopra
• Meditation is a microcosm, a model, a mirror. The skills we practice when we sit are transferable to the rest of our lives.  Sharon Salzberg
• Mindfulness is a state in which one is open to creating categories, open to new information, and being aware of more than one perspective. Mindlessness is being prematurely bound to a perspective when in a particular situation and then acting from that particular mindest. Ellen Langer
• Mindfulness of the body leads to nirvana. Shakyamuni Buddha
• This Mindfulness is the direct path for the purification of beings, for the overcoming of sorrow and lamentation, for the disappearing of pain and grief, for the attainment of the Way, for the realization of nirvana. Shakyamuni Buddha
• The practice of mindfulness begins in the small, remote cave of your unconscious mind and blossoms with the sunlight of your conscious life, reaching far beyond the people and places you can see. Earon Davis.
• In what is seen there must be just the seen; in what is heard there must be just the heard; in what is sensed (a small, taste or touch) there must be just what is sensed; in what is thought there must be just the thought. Udana I, 10
• Two thoughts cannot coexist at the same time: if the clear light of mindfulness is present, there is no room for mental twilight. Nyanaponika Thera

Affirmations

• I am mindful, not full of mind.
• I leave the attic of my mind and awaken to a world of wonder.
• All my senses are alive and aware.
• All my senses are finely tuned into this moment.
• Every day I become more aware of the world around me.
• Here and now is where I focus my attention.
• I am alert and attentive to what’s happening around me.
• I am conscious and aware at all times.
• I am consciously aware of what I am thinking, feeling and believing.
• I am fully awake to what’s happening around me.
• I am mindful and present in all that I do.
• I appreciate the tiny details of life.
• I exercise all my senses in everything I do.
• I experience life to its fullest by paying full attention to every moment.
• I focus my attention on what is happening in this moment.
• I give my full attention to everything I experience.
• I live in the moment and give it my full attention.
• I open my senses to the wonders that life offers.
• I pay close attention to the world around me.
• I put mindful attention into all I do.
• I stop regularly throughout my day to savour the beauty of the moment.
• I strive to be fully aware of all the good in my life.
• I strive to expand my awareness in all aspects of my life.
• My awareness increases more and more each day.
• My awareness transforms the ordinary to the extraordinary.
• My consciousness is ever aware of my surroundings.
• My heightened awareness helps me discover more to be grateful for.
• My life is filled with endless magical moments.
• The more I live with awareness, the richer my life becomes.
• Today I experience life with all my senses.
• Today I slow down and enjoy the details of life.

The vastness of the universe

I've been reflecting a lot lately about the vastness of the universe.  It's extraordinary, literally beyond comprehension.  It gives me a deep sense of wonder which I find very useful in my spiritual path.  Below I'm going to keep quotes and images on this subject.

• "Wonder is the basis of worship." -  Thomas Carlyle

• To give you an idea of how vast the space is between celestial bodies, consider this: Light traveling at a constant speed of 186,000 miles (300,000 kilometers) per second takes just over one second to travel between the earth and the moon; light from the sun takes about eight minutes to reach the earth. Light from our nearest neighbor in space, a star called Proxima Centauri, which is the sun that is closest to our own sun, travels for 4.5 years before it reaches the earth. This is how vast the space is that surrounds us. And then there is the intergalactic space, whose vastness defies all comprehension. Light from the galaxy closest to our own, the Andromeda Galaxy, takes 2.4 million years to reach us.  Eckhart Tolle

• "The atoms that make up your body were once forged inside stars." - Eckhart Tolle

• If you watched a rock your entire life it would never look different. But if you were God and could observe the rock over fifteen billion years as though only a second had passed, the rock would be frantic with activity. It would be shrinking and growing and trading matter with its environment. Its molecules would travel the universe and become a partner to amazing things that we could never imagine. Scott Adams, God's Debris

• Imagine that the earth, 4.6 billion years old, is a 46 year old women. It has taken the whole of the Earth Women's life for the earth to become what it is today. For the oceans to part. For the mountains to rise. She was 11 when the first single cell organisms appeared. She was 40 when the first animals like worms and jellyfish appeared. She was 45 - just 8 months ago - when dinosaurs first roamed the earth. The whole of human civilisation as we know it, began only two hours ago in the Earth Women's life. An awe - inspiring and humbling thought that the whole of contemporary history, the World wars, the man on the moon, science, literature, philosophy, the pursuit of knowledge - is no more than a blink of her eye. Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things

• Put three grains of sand inside a vast cathedral, and the cathedral will be more closely packed with sand than space is with stars.  Sir James Jeans 

A quote that I really like

From an email on attitude that mum sent through today.

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass...   It's about learning to dance in the rain.

The loving ways in which we connect

Perhaps God is in the space between people as they try to connect. Before Sunrise

What are the loving ways in which we connect?

• Love, friendship, family, intimacy, humility, patience, kindness
• To love, share, create, play, laugh, cuddle, listen, smile, share fun, laugh with
• To enable, heal, support, teach, inspire, move, mentor, affirm, enlighten, lighten, share, trust, forgive
• An old couple holding hands, the wisdom of grandparents, silence between friends, fascination and innocence of children, the love of parents, generosity of a stranger, patience of a teacher

Balance

• I live a balanced life of growth and renewal
• I fill my life with exciting variety
• I let go in the midst of excitement
• I live up and out in this moment

Balance

• Active / Still
• Grow / Renew
• Create / Analyse
• Break-through / Consolidate
• Assert / Affirm
• Plan / Do

Let go of the mind

• When you allow your mind to take a break, it comes back stronger, sharper, more focused and creative. Richard Carlson
• Think and concentrate in short, relaxed, blocks of time. Don't allow the mind to over steam. It is harmful and painful. The mind is a muscle. Renew your mind.
• A key to balance is to let go in the throes of excitement. Then it grows and creates joy. Grasping exhausts and stifles. Learn to let go and pause.

Replenish

• Fill the well. Nurture yourself. Consciously replenish your resources. As the Zen saying goes, "The bow kept forever tight will break. Learn to stimulate the "muse within." Fun and diversity are great stimulators.
• I found I could add nearly two hours to my working day by going to bed for an hour after luncheon. Winston Churchill
• Sharpen your Saw (Stephen Covey)
• The most important balance comes from (developing / renewing) and doing. The production / production capability balance. (P/PC) Stephen Covey
• When your schedule is out of hand, it's a signal that it's time to slow down and re- evaluate what's important rather than power through everything on the list. When you're feeling out of control, rather than roll up your sleeves and "get to it," a better strategy is to relax, take a few deep breaths and go for a short walk. Richard Carlson

Quotes

• You're like a great, big hairy moth bashing yourself to pieces over a silly flame while all the while out there in the cool night there's food and love... Maggie, Thornbirds
• The more time we spend on work to attain more, more, more, the less time we have to enjoy, enjoy, enjoy…. Schedule time for pleasure, then use your will to keep this important schedule. No cancelling allowed. Susan Jeffers
• Learn to pause or nothing worthwhile will catch up with you. Doug King
• Balance is a True North Principal. Nature is living proof. Stephen Covey
• Get your priorities straight. No one on their deathbed ever said, "If only I'd spent more time at the office." Life's Little Instruction Book
• Variety invigorates while routine saps strength. Do different things. Meet different people. Go to different places. Learn different things. Read different books.

The beauty and wonder of Music

The effects of music

• Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.  Red Auerbach
• Music melts all the separate parts of our bodies together. Anais Nin
• Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness.  Maya Angelou
• Music is well said to be the speech of angels; in fact, nothing among the utterances allowed to man is felt to be so divine. It brings us near to the infinite.  Thomas Carlyle

Music and nature

• Look at the stars sometimes. They are only notes They are music. Pat Conroy
• Without music, life is a journey through a desert. Pat Conroy
• All the sounds of the earth are like music. Oscar Hammerstein
• There is pleasure in the pathless woods, there is rapture in the lonely shore, there is society where none intrudes, by the deep sea, and music in its roar; I love not Man the less, but Nature more. George Gordon Byron
• Mozart has the classic purity of light and the blue ocean; Beethoven the romantic grandeur which belongs to the storms of air and sea, and while the soul of Mozart seems to dwell on the ethereal peaks of Olympus, that of Beethoven climbs shuddering the storm-beaten sides of a Sinai. Blessed be they both! Each represents a moment of the ideal life, each does us good. Our love is due to both.  Henri Frederic Amiel

Expression through music

• Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent. Victor Hugo
• Where words fail, music speaks. Hans Christian Andersen
• The truest expression of a people is in its dance and music.  Agnes de Mile
• Music is the vernacular of the human soul. Geoffrey Latham
• Music isn't just learning notes and playing them, You learn notes to play to the music of your soul. Katie Greenwood
• I think music in itself is healing. It's an explosive expression of humanity. It's something we are all touched by. No matter what culture we're from, everyone loves music.  Billy Joel

Other

• Great art is as irrational as great music. It is mad with its own loveliness. George Jean Nathan
• In music one must think with the heart and feel with the brain.  George Szell
• Mozart is sweet sunshine.  Antonin Dvorak
• Remember, information is not knowledge; knowledge is not wisdom; wisdom is not truth; truth is not beauty; beauty is not love; love is not music; music is the best.  Frank Zappa

The beauty and wonder of Art

• The aim off art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance. Aristotle
• Art flourishes where there is a sense of adventure. Alfred North Whitehead
• Art is not the bread, but the wine of life. John Paul Richter
• Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up. Pablo Ruiz y Picasso
• There are three forms of visual art: Painting is art to look at, sculpture is art you can walk around, and architecture is art you can walk through. Dan Rice
• He who works with his hands is a labourer. He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman. He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist. St Fancis of Assisi

Nature as an inspiration for Art

• Art is like a border of flowers along the course of civilisation. Lincoln Steffens
• Nature is not only all that is visible to the eye -- it also includes the inner pictures of the soul. Edvard Munch
• Art takes nature as its model. Aristotle
• All art is but imitation of nature. Seneca

Expression through art

• I found I could say things with colour and shapes that I couldn't say any other way -- things I had no words for. Georgia O'Keeffe
• When the subject is strong, simplicity is the only way to treat it. Jacob Lawrence
• The aim off art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance. Aristotle

Poetry

• Poetry is not the assertion of truth, but the making of that truth more fully real to us. T.S. Eliot

Painting

• I want to touch people with my art. I want them to say 'he feels deeply, he feels tenderly.' Vincent Van Gogh
• I often think the night is more alive and more richly coloured than the day. Vincent Van Gogh
• The richness I achieve comes from Nature, the source of my inspiration. Claude Monet
• Colour in a picture is like enthusiasm in life. Vincent Van Gogh
• The emotions are sometimes so strong that I work without knowing it. The strokes come like speech. Vincent Van Gogh
• People call me the painter of dancers, but I really wish to capture movement itself. Edgar Degas
• I feel as though I haven't seem an object until I actually start painting it. Janet Fish

Photography

• Both the grand and the intimate aspects of nature can be revealed in the expressive photograph. Both can stir enduring affirmations and discoveries, and can surely help the spectator in his search for identification with the vast world of natural beauty and the wonder surrounding him. Ansel Adams
• A room hung with pictures is a room hung with thoughts. Sir Joshua Reynolds

Cinema

• The cinema has no boundary; it is a ribbon of dream. Orson Welles
• Cinema should make you forget you are sitting in a theater. Roman Polanski
• Drama is life with the dull bits cut out. Alfred Hitchcock
• Fiction reveals truths that reality obscures. Jessamyn West
• [M]ovie-making is the process of turning money into light. All they have at the end of the day is images flickering on a wall. John Boorman, Money into Light, 1985

Calmness

• Effortless in mind and body, I nurture an inmost calm in all I do
  I flow with the journey, letting it unfold with time
  I act where I choose, then allow all to flow
  I am relaxed and centred, letting nothing phase me
  Rush not, I take my time. Strive not, I let it happen. Grasp not, I let go.
  I live a relaxed stroll drinking in all the beauty and fun around me.
  Supported below, each movement is a chance to release.
• Wherever I go in the midst of movement and activity, I carry my stillness with me. Deepak Chopra
• Practice being the eye of the storm. Commit to being the one person in the room who is an example of peace and calm. All it takes is intention and practice. Richard Carlson
• You have a choice how you respond to life. Turn your melodrama into a mellow drama. Richard Carlson
• Be happy where you are. There is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way. Richard Carlson
• During crisis or stress, remember that 100 years from now we will all be gone from this planet. Richard Carlson
• Life just is. You have to flow with it. Give yourself to the moment. Let it happen. Governor Gerry Brown
• No matter how dire the situation, keep your cool. Life's Little Instruction Book
• To have it all, Let it all go
• Time deals gently only with those who take it gently. Anatole France
• Count to ten. When you feel yourself getting angry or stressed, take a deep inhalation and relax your body. Count from one to ten, breathing and relaxing each time. Richard Carlson

Feel the fear and do it anyway

• You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do. Eleanor Roosevelt
• Do the things you fear and the death of fear is certain. Ralph Waldo Emerson
• It was high counsel that I once heard given to a young person,"Always do what you are afraid to do." Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Strengthen your risk muscle. Keep it in shape by doing new things. If you don't, it atrophies and you're no longer able to take chances. Make it a point to take at least one risk per week. Try a new recipe. Tackle a problem outside your field of expertise. Invest in a new idea. Roger von Oech
• Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear. Mark Twain

The rewards

• Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage. Anais Nin
• We cannot find peace if we are afraid of the windstorms of life. Elizabeth Kubler- Ross
• One doesn't discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time. Andre Gide
• Watch the turtle. He only moves forward by sticking his head out. Jr Gerstner
• And only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to live in every experience, painful or joyous; to live in gratitude for every moment, to live abundantly. Dorothy Thompson)
• Don't be afraid that your life will end, be afraid that it will never begin. Grace Hansen
• It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live. Marcus Aelius Aurelius
• In my view he who goes ahead is always the one who wins. Catherine The Great

Courage

• It's better to be a lion for a day than a sheep all your life. Elizabeth Henry
• An army of deer led by a lion is more to be feared than an army of lions led by a deer. Chabrais, Athenian general, 357 B.C.
• My centre is giving way, my right is retreating. Situation excellent. I shall attack. Ferdinand Foch
• For the first time in the history of this campaign we are surrounded on the East, West, North and South. We can now attack the enemy in all directions. General Abrams
• "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." Mark Twain

Letting Go

Letting go of worries

• When we stop fighting the inevitable, we release energy which allows us to create a richer life. Elsie MacCormick
• I act where I choose, then allow all to flow.
• There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will. Epictetus
• Two step formula for handling stress. 1. Don't sweat the small stuff. 2. Remember that it's all small stuff. Anthony Robbins
• I let go and trust that all is happening perfectly. Susan Jeffers
• I won't worry about anything today. I'll worry about it tomorrow. Susan Jeffers
• Worry, is in effect, saying to God I don't trust you. John Loftness
• Relax. This is the yesterday that will not matter tomorrow. Brilliant Ashleigh
• I have suffered many things in this life, most of which have never happened. G. W Gates
• Worry pulls tomorrow's cloud over today's sunshine.
• Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow; it empties today of its strength. Corrie Ten Boom
• I close my eyes, then cut an imagery cord that is attaching me to whatever I am worrying about. I then say to myself "OK God, I am doing my best. I'll let you take over now. Take over God, I trust it is all happening perfectly." I take a deep breath and feel myself letting go." Susan Jeffers

Letting go of Thoughts

• The power of calm: In matters of the mind, the more mental effort you apply to any given situation, the less will be the result.
• When you allow your mind to take a break, it comes back stronger, sharper, more focused and creative. Richard Carlson
• Go slow. Stop thinking. Look around. You'll see something beautiful if you open yourself. Sermon of Van Gogh
• That which is left when there is no more grasping is the Self. Panchadasi
• The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience. Emily Elizabeth Dickinson
• The truth emerges when you get stuck

Letting go of the need for order and perfection

• Chaos often breeds life, when order breeds habit. Henry B. Adams
• For thought is a bird of space, that in a cage of words may indeed unfold its wings but cannot fly. Kahlil Gibran
• Have faith in the Great Mystery to guide me. Important ideas will return. Prove your faith by letting them slip away! This is the secret to an effortless mind.

Letting go of the need to solve it right now

• Use your back burner. Gently hold the problem in your mind without actively analysing it. This simple technique will help you solve many problems and will greatly reduce the stress and effort in your life. Richard Carlson
• The next time you are feeling bad, rather than fight it, try to relax. Richard Carlson
• Don’t allow yourself to be fooled by your low moods. People do not realise that their moods are always on the run. They think instead that their lives have suddenly become worse in the past day, or even the last hour. A low mood is not the time to analyse your life. In low moods we lose our perspective and everything seems urgent. Life is almost never as bad as it seems when you're in a low mood. The trick is to be grateful for our good moods and graceful in our low moods - not taking them to seriously. Richard Carlson
• Practice ignoring your negative thoughts. You can analyse your thoughts, ponder, think through, study, think some more - or you can learn to ignore them - dismiss, pay less attention to, not take too seriously. Richard Carlson
• Negative thoughts do not need to be studied and analysed. Simply recognise that the reason you are feeling sad, angry, stressed or whatever is that you are sweating the small stuff. Instead of rolling up your sleeves and fighting back, back off, take a few deep breaths and relax. Richard Carlson

.
Letting go of expectations

• When you let go of your expectations, when you accept life as it is, you're free.  To hold on is to be serious and uptight.  To let go is to lighten up.  Richard Carlson
• When things don't seem to go my way, I let go of my attachment to how I think they should be, trusting that I am not seeing the big picture.  If I knew the big picture, I would understand that there is a reason for things unfolding the way they are, and that the cosmos has a plan for me much grander than anything I have conceived.   Deepak Chopra
• I let go of expectation.  I visualise cutting the cord to my expectations.  I imagine them drifting into the air until they are gone.   Susan Jeffers
• I relax my consciousness.  I unset my heart.  I wear the world as a loose garment.  I learn to dance with grace on the constantly shifting carpet.  I go with the flow.  Susan Jeffers
• Is it so small a thing to have enjoyed the sun, to have lived light in the spring, to have loved, to have thought, to have done? Matthew Arnold

Letting go of possessions

• Would that you could meet the sun and the wind with more of your skin and less of your raiment.  For the breath of life is in the sunlight and the hand of life is in the wind. Kahlil Gibran
• It is the preoccupation with possession, more than anything else, that prevents men from living freely and nobly.  Betrand Russell
• Let me not be tied down to property or praise and I shall be free. Free from the nagging ache of envy. Free from the hurts of resentment. Free to love all and forgive all. Free to do and say what is right, regardless of the unpopularity. Free to wander everywhere as inspiration guides me. Saint Francis of Assisi
• The things you own end up owning you.  It's only after you lose everything that you're free to do anything.   Chuck Palahniuk 1996, Fight Club
• Barn's burned down - now I can see the rising moon.  Zen Master Masahide
• Appreciate the abundance of what's good in your life, rather than measure and amass things that do not actually lead to happiness.  Cherie Carter-Scott

Letting go of the need for certainty

• The search for certainty and security is an attachment to the known.  The known is the past. There is no evolution in that.  Uncertainty on the other hand is the fertile ground of pure creativity and freedom.  I relinquish my attachment to the known and step into the field of all possibilities.   Deepak Chopra
• I am unattached to outcome.  I am comfortable in the realm of uncertainty.  I do not anticipate or resist, I allow.   Deepak Chopra

Letting go of striving

• Learn to pause or nothing worthwhile will catch up with you. Doug King
• Happiness is as a butterfly, which, when pursued, is always just beyond our grasp, but which, if you sit down quietly, may alight upon you. N. Hawthorne
• As long as there is drivenness, then we cannot experience our true nature. Our true nature is effortless. It is the nature of nature itself - an effortless spontaneous flow. Whether we realize it or not, all of us, from infancy on, start to acquire drivenness, compulsiveness, grabbiness, and that covers over our true nature. As long as that is covered over…life is going to be suffering. On the other hand, we could just as well say that Buddhism teaches that life is heaven on earth if we see what is really there. Shinzen Young
• He who bends to himself a joy doth the winged life destroy. But he who kisses a joy as it flies lives in Eternity's sunrise. William Blake
• The earth belongs to anyone who stops for a moment, gazes, and goes on his way. Colette
• Untroubling and untroubled where I lie, the grass below, above, the vaulted sky. John Clare
• Act without doing; work without effort. Tao Te Ching
• Let your skills evolve with time, without forcing or grasping, especially meditation. Bursts of progress, followed by consolidation and sometimes even apparent relapse. Read your dairy for confirmation. Ebbs and flows - this is the way of the world.
• Sometimes the most urgent and vital thing you can possibly do is to take a complete rest. Ashleigh Brilliant
• If you want to be happy, be. Leo Tolstoy
• What is this life if, full of care, we have no time to stop and stare. William Henry Davies

Letting go of end goaling

• It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end. Ursula K. Le Guin
• Happiness is not a state to arrive at, but a manner of travelling. Margaret Lee Runbeck
• Nothing comes into being all at once; not even the grape or the fig. If you say to me now, I want a fig, I shall answer, that requires time. Let the tree blossom first, then put forth its fruit, and finally let the fruit ripen. Epictetus

Letting go of physical tension

• Every movement I make is a chance to release
• I let my neck release, to let my neck go forward and up, to let my back lengthen and widen. Each movement is a chance to release and lengthen with my head leading. Each part of me releases and lengthens out of the nearest joint. I am supported from below. I think upwards for downward movements. My head floats on a water fountain. Alexander Technique

Letting go of judging others

• Become an anthropologist. Be interested, without judgement, how others choose to live and behave. This is a way of replacing judgements with loving kindness. "I see, that must be the way she sees things in her world. Very interesting." Richard Carlson
• Resist the urge to criticize. Criticism, like swearing, is actually nothing more than a bad habit. When we criticise, it is a statement to the world and to ourselves "I have a need to be critical." Richard Carlson
• I will practice non- judgement. Today I shall judge nothing that occurs. Deepak Chopra
• Non judgement creates silence in your mind. Judgement is the constant evaluation of things as right or wrong, good or bad. When you are constantly evaluating, classifying, labelling, analyzing, you create a lot of turbulence in your internal dialogue. This turbulence constricts the flow of energy between you and the field of pure potentiality. Deepak Chopra
• Observing is witnessing. Judging is concluding. I do not draw conclusions about Who You Are because in your creation of yourself you are never concluded. N. D. Walsch
• When you learn not to judge, you are basically saying, "I am willing to let anything in without deciding first whether it is good or bad. In the practice of openness, you will be inviting your soul to be intimate with you. Deepak Chopra
• One of the cardinal rules of joyful loving is that judging others takes a great deal of energy and without exception, pulls you away from where you want to be. Richard Carlson
• Imagine this person as a tiny infant. See their tiny little features and their innocent eyes. See the same person as a very old person who is about to die. Look at their worn out eyes and their soft smile, which suggests a bit of wisdom and the admission of mistakes made. Richard Carlson
• See the innocence. Learn to be less bothered by the actions of people. Look beyond it so that we can see the innocence in where the behaviour is coming from. Underneath even the most annoying behaviour is a frustrated person who is crying out for compassion. Richard Carlson

Letting go of worrying what others think

• Praise and blame are all the same. You'll never be able to please all the people all the time. Even in a landslide victory in which a candidate secures 55% of the vote, he or she is left with 45% of the population that wishes someone else were the winner. Everyone has their own set of ideas with which to evaluate life and our ideas don't always match those of other people. The sooner we accept the inevitable dilemma of not being able to win the approval of everyone we meet, the easier our lives will become. Richard Carlson
• Practice humility. The less compelled you are to try to prove yourself to others, the easier it is to feel peaceful inside. The less you care about seeking approval, the more approval you seem to get. Richard Carlson
• As for worrying about what other people think, forget it. They aren't concerned about you. They're too busy worrying about what you and other people think of them. Michael le Boouf
• Be more concerned about your character than about your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think of you. Richard Carlson

Letting go of the need to be right

• The next time you find yourself in an argument, rather than defend yourself, see if you can see the other point of view first. Richard Carlson
• I let go of my need to convince others of my point of view. When I remain open to all points of view, my dreams and desires will flow with nature's desires. Deepak Chopra
• Seek first to understand, then to be understood. Stephen Covey, 5th Habit
• I am not controlled by any unfortunate need to be right. Maybe I'm right, maybe I'm wrong. Only time and circumstances will show for sure… maybe. Susan Jeffers
• Most of our energy goes into maintaining our own importance. If we were capable of losing some of that importance, two extraordinary things would happen to us. One, we would free ourselves from trying to maintain the illusory idea of our grandeur; and two, we would provide ourselves with enough energy to catch a glimpse of the actual grandeur of the universe. Deepak Chopra
• Being right is highly overrated. Even a stopped clock is right twice a day. Richard Carlson
• A wonderful, heartfelt strategy for becoming more peaceful and loving is to practice allowing others the joy of being right - give them the glory. You don't have to sacrifice your deepest philosophical truths or most hearfelt opinions, but starting today, let others be "right" most of the time! Richard Carlson
• Choose being kind over being right. The reason we are tempted to put others down is that our ego mistakenly believes that if we point out how someone else is wrong, we must be right and therefore we feel better. Richard Carlson

Connecting to the Great Mystery though nature

• "How do you know," a Bedouin asked, "that there is a God?" "In the same way," his friend replied. "that I know, on looking at the sand, when a man or beast has crossed the desert-- by his footprints in the world around me." Henry Parry Liddon
• The closer we are to Nature, the closer we are to God. Johann Goethe
• I believe that a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars, and the Pismire ant is equally perfect, and a grain of sand, and the egg of the wren. Walt Whitman
• Twilight has always seemed like God's indrawn breath, a pause in the progression of time. Emilie Richards
• The first act of awe, when man was struck with the beauty or wonder of Nature, was the first spiritual experience. Henryk Skolimowski
• I, the fiery life of divine essence, am aflame beyond the beauty of the meadows, I gleam in the waters, and I burn in the sun, moon, and stars....I awaken everything to life. Ildergard of Bingen
• The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature. Anne Frank
• To see a world in a grain of sand, And a heaven in a wild flower, Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, An eternity in an hour. William Blake
• What else is nature but God? Seneca the Younger
• Every natural object is a conductor of divinity. John Muir
• So nature is my god. To me, nature is sacred; trees are my temples and forests are my cathedrals. Mikhail Gorbachev
• Nature is full of genius, full of divinity; so that not a snowflake escapes its fashioning hand. Henry David Thoreau
• The deeper we look into nature, the more we recognize that it is full of life, and the more profoundly we know that all life is a secret and that we are united with all life that is in nature. Man can no longer live his life for himself alone. We realize that all life is valuable and that we are united to all this life. From this knowledge comes our spiritual relationship with the universe. Albert Schweitzer
• Try and penetrate with our limited means the secrets of nature and you will find that, behind all the discernible concatenations, there remains something subtle, intangible and inexplicable. Veneration for this force beyond anything that we can comprehend is my religion. Albert Einstein
• We are learning finally that the forests and mountains and desert canyons are holier than our churches. Edward Abbey
• "How do you know," a Bedouin asked, "that there is a God?" "In the same way," his friend replied. "that I know, on looking at the sand, when a man or beast has crossed the desert - by his footprints in the world around me." Henry Parry Liddon
• In the mountain, stillness surges up to explore its own height; In the lake, movement stands still to contemplate its own depth. Sir Rabindranath Tagore
• We are surrounded by a rich and fertile mystery. Henry David Thoreau
• Untroubling and untroubled where I lie, the grass below, above, the vaulted sky. Clare John
• If you watched a rock your entire life it would never look different. But if you were God and could observe the rock over fifteen billion years as though only a second had passed, the rock would be frantic with activity. It would be shrinking and growing and trading matter with its environment. Its molecules would travel the universe and become a partner to amazing things that we could never imagine. Scott Adams, God's Debris
• At the deepest level of ecological awareness you are talking about spiritual awareness. Spiritual awareness is an understanding of being imbedded in a larger whole, a cosmic whole, of belonging to the universe. Fritjof Capra
• The forest is not merely an expression or representation of sacredness, nor a place to invoke the sacred; the forest is sacredness itself. Nature is not merely created by God, nature is God. Whoever moves within the forest can partake directly of sacredness, experience sacredness with his entire body, breath sacredness and contain it within himself, drink the sacred water as a living communion, bury his feet in sacredness, open his eyes and witness the burning beauty of sacredness. Richard Nelson
• I believe in God, only I spell it Nature. Frank Lloyd Wright
• Earth’s crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God. Elizabeth Barrett Browning
• Nature is too thin a screen; the glory of the omnipresent God bursts through everywhere. Ralph Waldo Emerson
• The arch of sky and mightiness of storms, Have moved the spirit within me, Till I am carried away, Trembling with joy. Uvavnuk, Inuit shaman
• Even in a single leaf of a tree, or a tender blade of grass, the awe- inspiring Deity manifests Itself. Shinto. Urabe-no- Kanekuni
• Conceive of God in terms of universal Nature--a nature God in whom we really live and move and have our being, with who our relation is as intimate and constant as that of the babe in its mother’s womb, or the apple upon the bough. This is the God that science and reason reveal to us--the God we touch with our hands, see with our eyes, hear with our ears, and from whom there is no escape, who is, indeed, from everlasting to everlasting. John Burroughs

The effects of time in nature

• To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter ... to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird's nest or a wildflower in spring—these are some of the rewards of the simple life. John Burroughs
• In the woods, we return to reason and faith. Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves. John Muir
• Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you. Frank Lloyd Wright
• There is a pleasure in the pathless woods, There is a rapture on the lonely shore. Lord Byron
• Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you... while cares will drop off like autumn leaves. John Muir
• Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth will find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. Rachel Carson
• Standing alone on a mountain top, it is easy to realize that whatever special nests we make-- leaves and moss like the marmots and birds, or tents of piled stone-- we all dwell in a house of one room..." John Muir

Celebrating nature

• Nature shows us only surfaces, but she is a million fathoms deep. Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating, there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather. John Ruskin
• The most precious things of life are near at hand, without money and without price. Each of you has the whole wealth of the universe at your very door. John Burroughs
• What is life? it is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset. Crowfoot Blackfoot (Native American)
• To me a lush carpet of pine needles or spongy grass is more welcome than the most luxurious Persian rug. Helen Keller
• Through primrose tufts, in that sweet bower, The periwinkle trail'd its wreaths; And 'tis my faith that every flower Enjoys the air it breathes. William Wordsworth
• While with an eye made quiet by the power of harmony, and the deep power of joy, we see into the life of things. William Wordsworth
• In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous. Aristotle
• Green is the prime colour of the world, and that from which its loveliness arises. Pedro Calderon De La Barca
• All my life through, the new sights of Nature made me rejoice like a child. Marie Curie
• The birds and animals, trees and grasses, rocks, water and wind are our allies. They waken our senses, rouse our passions, renew our spirits and fill us with vision, courage, and joy... David Gaines
• The day I see a leaf is a marvel of a day. Kenneth Patton
• God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform; He plants his footsteps in the sea, And rides upon the storm. William Cowper

Deep thoughts

• If you will think of ourselves as coming out of the earth, rather than having been thrown in here from somewhere else, you see that we are the earth, we are the consciousness of the earth. These are the eyes of the Earth. And this is the voice of the earth. Joseph Campbell
• Nature is a unity in diversity...a harmony, blending together all created things...one great whole animated by the breath of life. Alexander von Humboldt
• Let children walk with Nature, let them see the beautiful blendings and communions of death and life, their joyous inseparable unity, as taught in woods and meadows, plains and mountains and streams of our blessed star, and they will learn that death is stingless indeed, and as beautiful as life. John Muir

Returning to my path

I stick to my path with the tenacity of a warrior

• I rededicate and re devote myself again and again after the inevitable lapses and periods of dullness and inactivity. Before any real growth and stability appears I will lose faith, get discouraged, doubt, feel sorry for myself, and wonder if anything will happen. Does this mean I have lost my path? No, not at all - this IS the path. I learn to swim, not just with the current, but against the tide as well. This is not a journey for the timid or frail. I have an infinite amount of compassion for myself. I pick myself up again and again. Everything is as it should be. John Kehoe
• Our sacred song can only be brought to life when the awakened heart weds the warrior's spirit. The spirit of the warrior is one of resolve and determination. It drives through all obstacles. It is a commitment to follow our vision whatever the vision may be and wherever it may lead. To be genuine in each moment of our life. To be honest with ourselves. To respect the path we have chosen and follow it through to completion. This is how our sacred song is birthed and our destinies are fulfilled. John Kehoe

Tips for building commitment

• Be committed. Make personal promises and stick by them. Don't let exceptions occur. Add to your Personal Integrity Account. This is your reserve of character and confidence to power future commitments.
• Be committed. Never let an exception occur. Sense huge benefits for changing. Leverage pain for not changing. Playfully interrupt old limiting patterns. Repeat new behaviours for at least 3 weeks. Reward yourself. Remember, life is an ebb and a flow. Keep getting back on.
• We all love to win, but how many of us love to train. Mark Spitz

I live life on my own terms

• Be an original; not a copy
• Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say, and not giving a damn. Gore Vidal
• Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second- rate version of somebody else. Judy Garland
• There is only one success - to be able to spend your life in your own way. Christopher Morley
• Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their life a mimicry, their passions a quotation. Oscar Wilde
• Dare to question old ways, rules and taken for granted beliefs. Dr Irene C. Kassorla
• Rules are for the guidance of wise men and the obedience of fools
• Sacred cows make the best hamburgers. Mark Twain
• Loyalty to a petrified opinion never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul. Mark Twain
• We think as we do, mainly because other people think so. Samuel Butler

I take responsibility

• Stop blaming others. Take accountability for your own happiness and for your reactions to other people. When you stop blaming others, you will regain your sense of personal power. Richard Carlson
• I never blame anyone or anything for my situation, including myself. Having accepted this circumstance, I am able to have a creative response to the situation as it is now. Deepak Chopra

Criticism won't stop me

• The first and great commandment is, "Don't let them scare you".
• It is impossible to go through life without incurring a good deal of disapproval. It is the way of humanity, the dues you pay for your aliveness. Dr Wayne Dyer
• Criticism has few terrors for a man with great purpose. Benjamin Disraeli
• To escape criticism - do nothing, say nothing, be nothing. Elbert Hubbard
• They will say you are on the wrong road if it is your own. Antonio Porchia
• If you are not criticized, you may not be doing much. Donald H. Rumsfeld
• I don't know the key to success but the key to failure is trying to please everybody. Bill Crosby
• Remember that no one ever kicks a dead dog. Hutchins
• Don't waste time responding to your critics. Life's Little Instruction Book
• Every man is the creature of the age in which he lives; very few are able to raise themselves above the ideas of the time. Voltaire
• It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives on valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat. Theodore Roosevelt
• Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds. Albert Einstein
• One fifth of the people are against everything all of the time. Robert F. Kennedy
• A non-doer is very often a critic. It is easy to be a critic, but being a doer requires effort, risk and changes. Dr Wayne W. Dyer

Mistakes won't stop me

• To be successful, double your failure rate. Thomas Watson Founder of IBM
• Mistakes are my portals of discovery
• If you are not making many errors, you might ask yourself "How many opportunities am I missing by not being more aggressive?" Roger von Oech
• How far high failure overleaps the bounds of low success. Lewis Morris
• Mistakes are the dues you pay for leading a full life. Sophia Loren
• If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error. John Kenneth Galbraith
• If I had to live my life again, I'd make the same mistakes, only sooner. Tallulah Bankhead

I am authentic and assertive

• Respect Yourself
• Respect heroes above men, gods above demi- gods, but above all, respect yourself. (Pythagoras)
• Many things are lost for want of asking. (George Herbert)
• If I had no-one else to think about, what would I do? Will it hurt others in their own walks? No? Then do it! This is my life. My choices.
• Never let someone force you to make a hasty decision. Think about it in your own time.
• When it comes to reciprocal commitments of any kind, I have a right to demand a serious response. I can be assertive.
• I am completely and authentically, all that I choose to be, in this moment. I am aware of what I am choosing to be, I am honest about it, and I accept responsibility for it. N. D. Walsch
• I feel free to ask. I am open about my feelings.
• Stick to facts, rather than opinions. Facts are neutral and do not imply criticism. Try to use I rather than you. i.e. I feel angry when you are late. Not "You make me angry when..."
• Be assertive. Go for what you want. The meek will inherit nothing.
• Be a Lion. Ask!! No is the worst they can say. Ask and you will receive.
• Disapproval is the price you pay for a full, healthy life.
• Remove guesswork from all your relationships - ask direct questions about feelings. Dr Irene C. Kassorla

Obstacles won't stop me

• The obstacle is the path. Zen Proverb
• You can tell how big a person is by what it takes to discourage him.
• When you come to a roadblock, take a detour. Mary Kay Ash
• We will either find a way or make one. Hannibal
• Obstacles are those fearsome things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.
• What if Columbus had been told, "Chris baby, don't go now. Wait until we've solved our No.1 priorities - war and famine; poverty and crime; pollution and disease; illiteracy and racial hatred - and Queen Isabella's own brand of internal security." W.I.E.Gates
• “If the road you travel has no obstacles - it leads nowhere”