“Gratitude [is] the feeling of appreciation that comes when you recognize that something is valuable to you, which has nothing to do with its monetary worth.”
David Steindl-Rast, via Think Like A Monk (Page 205)
“Using visualization, we can revisit the past, editing the narrative we tell ourselves about our history. Imagine you hated the last thing you said to a parent who passed away. Seeing yourself in your mind’s eye telling your parent how much you loved them doesn’t change the past, but, unlike nostalgia and regret, it starts the healing. And if you envision your hopes, dreams, and fears of the future, you can process feelings before they happen, strengthening yourself to take on new challenges.”
Jay Shetty, via Think Like A Monk (Page 197)
“Believe those who search for the truth; doubt those who have found it.”
André Gide, via Think Like A Monk (Page 196)
“If vulnerability grows along with power, there is no fear that power will be abused.”
Osho, Everyday Osho (Page 94)
“The next moment is the moment when what we look forward to ends, and it is just us with ourselves. It is interesting to explore: how are we with the next moment? Do we quickly try to plan another trip or meal? Or can we just be in that moment as it is, without anything special needing to happen? How we relate to the next moment tells us a lot; it allows us to see when nothing is happening, what our resting place is … and if our resting place is constant stimuli, we miss our life.”
Soren Gordhamer
“We don’t control the vileness of the world or of other people. We do control whether we contribute to it though, whether we choose to contrast it with our own splendor and goodness. We control what we look for also–as Marcus [Aurelius] did, filling Meditations not just with somber or depressing notes but also observations about the beauty and majesty of nature and life. Will you be splendid or vile? That’s the call you get to make, always and forever.”
Ryan Holiday
“Explore life from a position of power. When you believe, ‘Even if I stay single, I’ll still have a great life‘… then you are in a much better position to enter a relationship. When you believe, ‘Even if I don’t get into this school, I’ll still have a great life‘… then you are in a much better position to apply. When you believe, ‘Even if I don’t succeed with this business, I’ll still have a great life‘… then you are in a much better position to give it a try. Sure, you may want the relationship to work or the business to be a success—and you should give it your best effort—but also realize that if it doesn’t work out, you’ll be fine. There are many ways to live a great life.”
James Clear
“[Gratitude is when] you recognize that something is valuable to you, which has nothing to do with its monetary worth.”
David Steindl-Rast, via Think Like A Monk (Page 192)
“If you envision your hopes, dreams, and fears of the future, you can process feelings before they happen, strengthening yourself to take on new challenges. Before giving a speech, I often prepare by visualizing myself going on stage to deliver it. Anything you see in the man-made world—this book, a table, a clock—whatever it is, it existed in someone’s mind before it came to be. In order to create something we have to imagine it. This is why visualization is so important. Whatever we build internally can be built externally.”
Jay Shetty, via Think Like A Monk (Page 192)
“Your profession should only be one part of life. It should not overlap into every dimension of your life, as ordinarily it does. A doctor becomes almost a twenty-four-hour doctor. He thinks about it, he talks about it. Even when he is eating, he is a doctor. While he is making love, he is a doctor. Then it is madness; it is insane. My suggestion is that you work for five or six hours. Use the remaining hours for other things: for sleep, for music, for poetry, for meditation, for love, or for just fooling around. That too is needed. If a person becomes too wise and cannot fool around, he becomes heavy, somber, serious. He misses life.”
Osho, Everyday Osho (Page 87)
“Believe those who search for the truth; doubt those who have found it.”
André Gide, via Think Like A Monk (Page 196)
“When you ask for feedback, choose your advisors wisely. We commonly make one of two mistakes when we seek feedback: We either ask everyone for advice about one problem or we ask one person for advice about all of our problems. If you ask too broadly, you’ll get fifty-seven different options and will be overwhelmed, confused, and lost. On the other hand, if you drop all your dilemmas on one person, then they’ll be overwhelmed, unequipped, and at some point tired of carrying your baggage.”
Jay Shetty, via Think Like A Monk (Page 192)
“Humility comes from accepting where you are without seeing it as a reflection of who you are. Then you can use your imagination to find success.”
Jay Shetty, via Think Like A Monk (Page 188)
“What belongs to you today, belonged to someone yesterday and will be someone else’s tomorrow.”
Unknown, via Think Like A Monk (Page 185)
“We only notice salt when there is too much of it in our food, or not enough. Nobody ever says, ‘Wow, this meal has the perfect amount of salt.’ When salt is used in the best way possible, it goes unrecognized. Salt is so humble that when something goes wrong, it takes the blame, and when everything goes right, it doesn’t take credit.”
Radhanath Swami, via Think Like A Monk (Page 185)
“At the ashram, the most straightforward path to humility was through simple work, menial tasks that didn’t place any participant at the center of attention. We washed huge pots with hoses, pulled weeds in the vegetable garden, and washed down the squat toilets—the worst! The point wasn’t just to complete the work that needed to be done. It was to keep us from getting big-headed. Some tasks build competence, and some build character.”
Jay Shetty, via Think Like A Monk (Page 178)