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Richard Branson Quote on Living In Every Moment—Not A Select Few Moments

    “I don’t think of work as work and play as play.  It’s all living.”

    Richard Branson, via Talk Like TED

    Beyond the Quote (139/365)

    When you are able to live life completely immersed in the present moment, Richard Branson is dead on, it’s ALL living. It doesn’t matter what you’re doing, where you are, or who you’re with—it’s all a part of the whole life experience and we should be soaking it ALL in for what it is. For, what else do we ever have besides this moment? If we’re not living in this moment now, are we reserving life for a future point in time? When we lose touch with “the now” and mentally wander elsewhere, are we voluntarily letting go of chunks of our life? Let’s break it down.

    Read More »Richard Branson Quote on Living In Every Moment—Not A Select Few Moments

      “Always think about what you’re really being asked to give. Because the answer is often a piece of your life, usually in exchange for something you don’t even want. Remember, that’s what time is. It’s your life, it’s your flesh and blood, that you can never get back. In every situation ask: What is it? Why does it matter? Do I need it? Do I want it? What are the hidden costs? Will I look back from the distant future and be glad I did it? If I never knew about it at all—if the request was lost in the mail, if they hadn’t been able to pin me down to ask me—would I even notice that I missed out?”

      Ryan Holiday, Stillness is the Key (Page 191)

        “All of our emotions have value, and as unpleasant as some are, they’re reminders that we’re alive and have a whole lot going on inside.  Why not approach life with curiosity and wonder, instead of dread and fear.  We don’t avoid movies because we know they’ll end.  We enjoy the journey they take us on.  Our journey is life, and no one makes it out alive; the finish is death, so let’s enjoy life while we can, with those we love, while they’re still here.” ~ Humble the Poet, Things No One Else Can Teach Us (Page 46)

        Stephen Cope Quote on Engaging With Life Rather Than Retreating—On Doing What’s Meaningful Rather Than Fun

          “At the end of life, most of us will find that we have felt most filled up by the challenges and successful struggles for mastery, creativity, and full expression of our dharma in the world.  Fulfillment happens not in retreat from the world, but in advance – and profound engagement.”

          Stephen Cope, The Great Work Of Your Life

          Beyond the Quote (64/365)

          After receiving a thunderous round of applause for a speech he gave, Dr. Jordan B. Peterson was asked if he was having fun giving speeches and talking about important intellectual topics.  When he replied, “No,” I was caught off guard.  I couldn’t understand how he could so eloquently CRUSH an hour and a half long speech, do it in a way that was so well received by the audience, laugh and joke throughout, and admit that he didn’t have fun while doing it?

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          Matt Damon Quote on Taking Action Rather Than Sitting Around Thinking You’re “Too Cool”

            “It was like, ‘Why are we sitting here?  Let’s make our own movie.’  And if people come to see it, they come; and if they don’t, they don’t.  Either way it beats sitting here going crazy.  When you have so much energy and so much passion and no outlet for it and nobody cares, it’s just the worst feeling… This whole ‘I’m too cool to care’ thing… is so weak and stupid and played out, and it just brings everybody down.  You shouldn’t be too cool to care, for Christ’s sake.  You should be full of vim and vigor, and trying to do everything you can to make a change.”

            Matt Damon

            Beyond the Quote (48/365)

            Regardless of what gets you there, when the end conclusion is not caring, then all of the life that comes from caring dissolves.  Caring is exactly what drives us to listen, to pay attention, to take actions, to go above and beyond, and to think and reflect—essentially, when we don’t care, we’re choosing not to interact with the world (or at least that aspect of it).

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              “It is not impermanence that makes us suffer.  What makes us suffer is wanting things to be permanent, when they are not.”

              Thich Nhat Hanh | Read Matt’s Blog on this Quote ➜

              Bronnie Ware Quote on How Regret Is Always More Painful Than Courage

                “Regardless of how much courage it can take to live true to your own path, it will never be as painful as lying on your deathbed with the regret of not having tried.”

                Bronnie Ware

                Beyond the Quote (21/365)

                Bronnie Ware is a palliative nurse who writes about her experiences in sharing people’s last moments alive with them.  You can imagine the power and potency of such moments.  In many cases, this experience of being with a person who is passing is outsourced to palliative nurses, like Ware, and isn’t something that many people experience first-hand in their lifetimes.  Being with somebody who is about to die, however, might teach us more about living than anything we might ever read in a book or hear in a conversation.  Until then, hearing what Ware has learned might be one of our next best (and most important) options.

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                Leonardo Da Vinci Quote on Happy Death

                  “As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so a life well spent brings happy death.”

                  Leonardo da Vinci

                  Beyond the Quote (12/365)

                  At the end of every day, when you lay your head down on your pillow, there are usually a few moments of reflection.  Sometimes the movie of your mind plays memories from the day, or replays situations that you might have acted on differently, or even anticipates the things that are to come.  Sometimes these thoughts and reflections leave you feeling dissatisfied and sometimes they leave you feeling accomplished.  When you pay attention to, and are mindful of, the average feeling of how you spent the time of your days, then you can start to navigate, and get in tune with, the direction and path of your life.

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                    “No one will ever tell you how great you can be.  You will never be asked to do something incredible with your life.  You will never get a letter in the mail that says, ‘Dear you, please, do something important with your time.’  Even if you do it quietly you have to give yourself the life you want.” ~ Iain Thomas, Every Word you Cannot Say (Page 72)

                    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 Be

                        “The reason why some people love to engage in dangerous activities, such as mountain climbing, car racing, and so on, although they may not be aware of it, is that it forces them into the Now—that intensely alive state that is free of time, free of problems, free of thinking, free of the burden of the personality.  Slipping away from the present moment even for a second may mean death.  Unfortunately, they come to depend on a particular activity to be in that state.  But you don’t need to climb the north face of the Eiger.  You can enter that state now.” ~ Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now (Page 51)