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John Leland Quote on Contentment and Why You Should Grab It While You Can

    “Contentment had been there for the grasping, if only I had recognized it.  Probably it’s there for you.  The elders would tell you to grab it while you can, not agitate for something better.  They don’t have time for delusions, including the delusion that you have time.  They’re too busy loving like there’s no tomorrow, because for any of us, there might not be.”

    John Leland, Happiness is a Choice You Make (Page 85)

    Beyond the Quote (278/365)

    Contentment is here. It’s right here for you and I to grasp. Of this I am sure. It is not a matter of whether it’s there or not for you, but a matter of whether or not you can see it. Whether or not you can recognize it. Whether or not you even know what you’re looking for or how to grasp it.

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      “Don’t reject a difficult or boring moment because it is not exactly what you want.  Don’t waste a beautiful moment because you are insecure or shy.  Make what you can of what you have been given.  Live what can be lived.  That’s what excellence is.  That’s what presence makes possible.” ~ Ryan Holiday, Stillness is the Key (Page 28)

      Leo Babauta Quote on Practicing Mindfulness By Giving Your Actions Weight

        “Practice this. Every action you take today, no matter how little… give it weight. Put some space around it. Start it intentionally, with the intention to be mindful, to inhabit that action fully, to notice with all of your senses the entire moment. When the action is done, don’t just rush to the next one, but take half a second to appreciate what you just experienced. Then move to the next with equal weight and space. If you don’t start treating this next action like it’s just as important as what’s coming later, you might never.”

        Leo Babauta

        Beyond the Quote (24/365)

        So many things in life lose their weight when you learn to redistribute that weight to the present moment.  What gives different thoughts, feelings, and situations in your life weight?  Your mind.  When you feel really drawn down and heavy from tough emotional situations, it’s because your mind is giving those tough emotional thoughts all of its weight.

        Read More »Leo Babauta Quote on Practicing Mindfulness By Giving Your Actions Weight

          “If you set yourself a goal and work toward it, you are using clock time.  You are aware of where you want to go, but you honor and give your fullest attention to the step that you are taking at this moment.  If you then become excessively focused on the goal, perhaps because you are seeking happiness, fulfillment, or a more complete sense of self in it, the Now is no longer honored.  It becomes reduced to a mere stepping stone to the future, with no intrinsic value.  Clock time then turns into psychological time.  Your life’s journey is no longer an adventure, just an obsessive need to arrive, to attain, to ‘make it.’  You no longer see or smell the flowers by the wayside either, nor are you aware of the beauty and the miracle of life that unfolds all around you when you are present in the Now.” ~ Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now (Page 58)

            “The eternal present is the space within which your whole life unfolds, the one factor that remains constant.  Life is now.  There was never a time when your life was not now, nor will there ever be.” ~ Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now (Page 49)

              “To be identified with your mind is to be trapped in time: the compulsion to live almost exclusively through memory and anticipation.  This creates an endless preoccupation with past and future and an unwillingness to honor and acknowledge the present moment and allow it to be.  The compulsion arises because the past gives you an identity and the future holds the promise of salvation, of fulfillment in whatever form.  Both are illusions.” ~ Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now (Page 49)

              The Power of Now [Book]

                The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Eckhart Tolle

                By: Eckhart Tolle

                From this Book: 50 Quotes

                Book Overview: To make the journey into The Power of Now you need to leave your analytical mind and its false created self, the ego, behind. Access to the Now is everywhere – in the body, the silence, and the space all around you. These are the keys to enter a state of inner peace. They can be used to bring you into the Now, the present moment, where problems do not exist. It is here you find your joy and are able to embrace your true self. It is here you discover that you are already complete and perfect.  Although the journey is challenging, Eckhart Tolle offers simple language in a question and answer format. The words themselves are the signposts to guide you on your journey. There are new discoveries to be made along the way: you are not your mind, you can find your way out of psychological pain, authentic human power is found by surrendering to the Now. When you become fully present and accepting of what is, you open yourself to the transforming experience of The Power of Now.

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                Not enough time to read/listen to the whole book? Check out the 16 minute Blinkist version of The Power of Now and get the key insights here for free.

                Post(s) Inspired by this Book:

                  “A starting point for wisdom at any age might be to accept that you’re going to die—really accept it—and to feel more contented by the limits, not less.  Modern medicine encourages us to consider death a test we can win or lose, something presided over by experts in white coats.  But the elders offered a wiser perspective.  None of us will get out of here alive, so we might as well live while we can.” ~ John Leland, Happiness is a Choice You Make (Page 45)

                    “Old age is the last thing we’ll ever do, and it might teach us about how to live now.” ~ John Leland, Happiness is a Choice You Make (Page 23)

                      “I was dying.  And I couldn’t gain any kind of control on the situation.  There was no, ‘mind over matter-ing’ it for me.  My lungs were failing.  And I got hit with this huge wave of grief.  Which is not something that I had expected.  As someone who had always known that I would die young—and I had always accepted that and been okay with that—I was expecting maybe some fear, maybe some hesitation, maybe to turn into a 5-year-old then cry and want my mom… But I wasn’t expecting grief.  And what I felt grief for wasn’t the fact that I was dying, it wasn’t about fear of the unknown, it was none of that.  I felt grief for the life I could’ve lived.  I felt grief for life itself.  For all of the possibilities that it held.  And I was mad at myself.  I spent, literally, 30 minutes as my CO2 levels were rising and I slowly started to hallucinate, being thoroughly pissed at myself for waiting around for the world to tell me I was okay even though I was sick.  For waiting around for someone to tell me that I was healthy enough, that I was better enough, I was good enough to live a life that I wanted to live.  I wish that I yelled at every single person that had come into the room and said that they were sorry for me.” ~ Claire Wineland (20), EEM LA 2018

                        “Live in the moment for the sheer joy of living it.  Then each moment has the quality of an orgasm.  Yes, it is orgasmic.  This is how my people have to live, with no ‘should,’ with no ‘ought,’ with no ‘must,’ with no commandment.  You are not here to become martyrs; you are here to enjoy life in its fullness.  And the only way to live, love, enjoy, is to forget the future.  It exists not.” ~ Osho, Fame, Fortune, and Ambition

                          “Heaven is not a goal; heaven is the presence right now.  If you are present, the divine is available.  If you live in the moment, you are enlightened; there is no other enlightenment.  And then ordinary life is so extraordinary.  Then to be just a nobody is so fulfilling.  I call this whole approach sannyas: dropping the goals, the purposes, the future—becoming part of existence this very moment, not postponing it.  Then in this very moment, a great explosion is possible in you: the ego disappears, you are no more, but the divine is.  And that is bliss and that is truth.” ~ Osho, Fame, Fortune, and Ambition

                            “Become a little more aware, and try to bring your consciousness more and more to the facticity of existence.  See this flower; don’t think about that flower.  Listen to this word I am uttering, not to that word that I am going to utter.  Look right now.  If you postpone even for a single, split moment, you miss.  And then it becomes a habit, an ingrained habit.  Tomorrow also you will miss, and the day after tomorrow also, because you will remain the same.” ~ Osho, Fame, Fortune, and Ambition

                              “This is my idea of being successful—be a nobody!  Just be ordinary, nobody, and life will be a tremendous joy to you.  Just be simple.  Don’t create complexities around yourself.  Don’t create demands.  Whatever comes on its own, receive it as a gift, and enjoy and delight in it.  And millions are the joys that are being showered on you, but because of your demanding mind, you cannot see them.  Your mind is in such a hurry to be successful, to be somebody special, that you miss all the glory that is just available.” ~ Osho, Fame, Fortune, and Ambition