“The wind does not stop being the wind when it stops blowing. A wave does not stop being a wave when it crashes against the shore. A story does not stop being a story when you turn the page.” ~ Iain Thomas, Every Word you Cannot Say (Page 25)
“Everyone you meet along the way is just someone at a different point in their story. So be patient and kind. But don’t let anyone tell you how your story should go. Only you know how your story goes.” ~ Iain Thomas, Every Word you Cannot Say (Page 24)
20 Practical and Timely Sakyong Mipham Quotes on How To Turn the Mind Into An Ally
Excerpt: Read our 20 Sakyong Mipham Quotes from Turning the Mind Into An Ally and take control of your wandering, cycling, distracted mind… today!
Read More »20 Practical and Timely Sakyong Mipham Quotes on How To Turn the Mind Into An Ally
Every Word You Cannot Say [Book]
**I know you don’t want to talk sometimes. Sometimes because it hurts and sometimes because you’re just not supposed to talk about what you want to talk about. Sometimes it can be hard to say, “this is beautiful,” when no one else can see what you see. Or, “Here, this is where the pain is.” But some part of you knows, the truth about the words you cannot say is that they only hurt until you say them. They only hurt until the person who needs to hear them, hears them. Because we are human, and the closest we’ve ever come to showing each other who we really are, and how we love, is with words. So I’m going to try to say to you here, what I wish you’d say to me too. Please. Listen. We can change things. Here.
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Post(s) Inspired by this Book:
- 12 Empowering Iain Thomas Quotes from Every Word You Cannot Say
- Iain Thomas Quote on What To Do When The World Is Wearing You Down (Beyond the Quote 180/365)
- Iain Thomas Quote on Trying To Use Self-Love In Response To Pain—Not More Pain (Beyond the Quote 23/365)
- Iain Thomas Quote on How The World Becomes Better (Beyond the Quote 5/365)
Stephen Cope Quote on Being Yourself and How You Can’t Be Anyone You Want To Be
“You cannot be anyone you want to be. Your one and only shot at a fulfilled life is being yourself—whoever that is. Furthermore, at a certain age it finally dawns on us that, shockingly, no one really cares what we’re doing with our life. This is a most unsettling discovery to those of us who have lived someone else’s dream and eschewed our own: No one really cares except us. When you scratch the surface, you finally discover that it doesn’t really matter a whit who else you disappoint if you’re disappointing yourself. The only question that makes sense to ask is: Is your life working for you?”
Stephen Cope, The Great Work Of Your Life
Beyond the Quote (Day 4)
If your life isn’t working for you, then who is it working for? Are you working to please yourself or someone else? Are you fulfilling dreams that are uniquely your own or dreams that were bestowed upon you by your parents? Do you feel a sense of growth and contribution when you work or do you feel a sense of dread and purposelessness?
Read More »Stephen Cope Quote on Being Yourself and How You Can’t Be Anyone You Want To BeProverb About Small Steps Versus Giant Leaps and Having An ‘All-Or-Something’ Mindset
“It is better to make many small steps in the right direction than to make a great leap forward only to stumble backward.”
Proverb
Beyond the Quote (Day 3)
When it comes to following through with new goals or resolutions, don’t be an all-or-nothing; be an all-or-something. An all-or-nothing is the type of person who is either all-in or all-out. Either everything they planned is unfolding perfectly and is being executed flawlessly, or it’s not and they place blame, come up with excuses, and quit.
Read More »Proverb About Small Steps Versus Giant Leaps and Having An ‘All-Or-Something’ Mindset“People do not decide their futures, they decide their habits and their habits decide their futures.” ~ F.M. Alexander, James Clear Blog
“‘One day I’ll make it.’ Is your goal taking up so much of your attention that you reduce the present moment to a means to an end? Is it taking the joy out of your doing? Are you waiting to start living? If you develop such a mind pattern, no matter what you achieve or get, the present will never be good enough; the future will always seem better. A perfect recipe for permanent dissatisfaction and nonfulfillment, don’t you agree?”
Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now (Page 85) (Read Matt’s Blog on this quote)
“You must determine where you are going in your life, because you cannot get there unless you move in that direction. Random wandering will not move you forward. It will instead disappoint and frustrate you and make you anxious and unhappy and hard to get along with (and then resentful, and then vengeful, and then worse).”
Jordan Peterson, 12 Rules for Life (Page 282) (Read Matt’s Blog on this quote)
“Beginning meditation practice is an excellent opportunity to contemplate how we spend our time. How much of what we do is important and truly necessary? One of the obstacles to meditation is being pulled in too many directions. What drains us; what nourishes us? Are there activities we can postpone or eliminate? It will be helpful to ask questions like these at the outset. Awareness lays the ground for a strong commitment to practice. Taming our mind isn’t a hobby or an extracurricular activity—it’s the most important thing we could be doing. It can even help streamline a pressured situation because it gives us clarity, peace, and fortitude. So while we may need to simplify our life in order to meditate, a benefit of meditation is that it will make our life simpler.” ~ Sakyong Mipham, Turning the Mind Into An Ally (Page 216)
“The journey of the bodhisattva warrior starts with the basic attitude of enlarging our motivation to include the welfare of others. This is a simple response to this dark age. Let’s begin right now by engaging love and compassion however we can—not tomorrow, but today. By cultivating courage and confidence in ourselves and maintaining our seat, we can enjoy creating a sane environment; we can enjoy creating an enlightened society. This doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Start by looking at your own life and see what you can do, one step at a time. Love is the saving grace.” ~ Sakyong Mipham, Turning the Mind Into An Ally (Page 212)
“Generosity, discipline, patience, exertion, meditation, and wisdom keep turning our mind to enlightenment like a flower seeking sunlight. This brings genuine delight. The more awake we are, the more connected we feel with other sentient beings. The more awake we are, the more we want to help others achieve the same freedom.” ~ Sakyong Mipham, Turning the Mind Into An Ally (Page 210)
“We use discipline to clear the road for the future by deciding what to do and not to do now. It’s learning what to accept and what to reject. We’re able to see more and more clearly the difference between virtue and nonvirtue—gewa and migewa. Our minds are strong through practice, so we’re not seduced into acting on negative emotions, even in our mind. We know such actions will create more pain for us.” ~ Sakyong Mipham, Turning the Mind Into An Ally (Page 204)
“To meet our basic goodness, we meditate. Through peaceful abiding, we learn to rest fearlessly in our natural state. We see what an enlightened being sees: basic goodness is the ground of being, the nature of everything; it’s an indestructible continuum, a diamond hologram with infinite facets. Through contemplation we discover that, like the reflection of a jewel in the sunlight, it is empty. In continuing to contemplate, we see that this emptiness is vibrant and dynamic—a playful display of thoughts, emotions, and perceptions. This is luminosity.” ~ Sakyong Mipham, Turning the Mind Into An Ally (Page 198)
“We often conduct our life as though it’s going to last forever. With this attitude, we want everything. The fact of death puts a limit on what we can have, what we can do. We don’t need to think about death all the time, but to ponder it, to contemplate it, gives us perspective and inspiration about living our life. It also makes us less spoiled. It makes us look at the balance of our life and determine what needs to come first. What is important to me? How shall I use my life? We’re able to enter situations more openly once we’ve related with death. It makes our love more powerful.” ~ Sakyong Mipham, Turning the Mind Into An Ally (Page 156)
“Compliment others more. You’ll barely remember you did it, but the other person may never forget that you did. Kindness has unlimited upside.” ~ James Clear, Blog
“You know yourself mostly by your thoughts. Everyone else in the world knows you only by your actions. Remember this when you feel misunderstood. You have to do or say something for others to know how you feel.” ~ James Clear, Blog
“In Tibet people don’t seem to worry as much about aging. When I hear my mother and her generation of Tibetans talk about getting old, the tone in their voice is proud. They’re proud to have lived so long. They’re cheerful. They have young minds. They’re continuously curious, always learning. One of my favorite Tibetan saying is ‘Even if you’re going to die tomorrow, you can learn something tonight.’ With this attitude we don’t feel so old.” ~ Sakyong Mipham, Turning the Mind Into An Ally (Page 152)
“Understanding the meaning of impermanence makes us less desperate people. It gives us dignity. We no longer grasp at pleasure, trying to squeeze out every last drop. We no longer consider pain something we should fear, deny, and avoid. We know that it will change.” ~ Sakyong Mipham, Turning the Mind Into An Ally (Page 150)