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    “Do you want to be a living being or a thinking being? Right now, ninety percent of the time, you are only thinking about life, not living it. Have you come into this world to experience life or to think about it? Your mental process is a very small happening compared to the life process, but right now it has become far more important. It is time for humanity to shift the significance to the life process once again. The need is an urgent one. Our lives depend on it.”

    Sadhguru, Inner Engineering (Page 162)

      “The most beautiful moments in your life—what you might consider moments of bliss, joy, ecstasy, or utter peace—were moments when you were not thinking about anything at all. You were just being. Even without your thoughts, existence is.”

      Sadhguru, Inner Engineering (Page 150)

      Quote on Making Your Wants Want You and How Relaxing Helps Make That Happen

        “Don’t chase, don’t beg, don’t stress, don’t be desperate, just relax. When you relax it will come to you. Make your wants, want you.”

        Unknown

        Beyond the Quote (291/365)

        What happens when you relax? You release. You let go of held tension both in the body and the mind. Or, maybe better said, in the mind and then in the body. For, the body is but a puppet of the mind. And in order for the mind to relax what needs to happen? Well, you have to ease your mind away from the regrets of the past and the anxieties of the future and connect to the now. How else can you be truly relaxed if you’re preoccupied thinking and worrying about the past and future? It is only when you are utterly present that you can be truly relaxed. Isn’t it so?

        Read More »Quote on Making Your Wants Want You and How Relaxing Helps Make That Happen

        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.

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

            “You could be good today. But instead, you choose tomorrow.”

            Marcus Aurelius, Medium

            Thich Nhat Hanh Quote on the Present Moment and Appreciating the Flower When It’s Shown To You

              “We can realize peace right in the present moment with our look, our smile, our words, and our actions.  Peace work is not a means.  Each step we make should be peace.  Each step we make should be joy.  Each step we make should be happiness.  If we are determined, we can do it.  We don’t need the future.  We can smile and relax.  Everything we want is right here in the present moment.”

              Thich Nhat Hanh, Peace is Every Step

              Beyond the Quote (238/365)

              One day the Buddha held up a flower in front of an audience of 1,250 monks and nuns.  He did not say anything for quite a long time.  The audience was perfectly silent.  Everyone seemed to be thinking hard, trying to see the meaning behind the Buddha’s gesture. Then, suddenly, the Buddha smiled.  

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              Terri Guillemets Quote on Clouds and What They Can Remind Us About Life

                “Why do I love clouds? Because you can’t save a cloud like you can save a leaf or a flower or a rock – clouds are now.”

                Terri Guillemets

                Beyond the Quote (204/365)

                As I sit here struggling to find the right words to write, I find myself looking out the window, captivated by the movement of the clouds through the sky. It’s nothing special. Or it’s something really special? I can’t tell.

                Read More »Terri Guillemets Quote on Clouds and What They Can Remind Us About Life

                  “I have learned to offer no resistance to what is; I have learned to allow the present moment to be and to accept the impermanent nature of all things and conditions. Thus have I found peace.”

                  Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now (Page 187)

                    “Whenever two or more egos come together, drama of one kind or another ensues. But even if you live totally alone, you still create your own drama. When you feel sorry for yourself, that’s drama. When you feel guilty or anxious, that’s drama. When you let the past or future obscure the present, you are creating time, psychological time—the stuff out of which drama is made. Whenever you are not honoring the present moment by allowing it to be, you are creating drama.”

                    Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now (Page 182)

                      “There is nothing you can ever do or attain that will get you closer to salvation than it is at this moment. This may be hard to grasp for a mind accustomed to thinking that everything worthwhile is in the future. Nor can anything that you ever did or that was done to you in the past prevent you from saying yes to what is and taking your attention deeply into the Now. You cannot do this in the future. You do it now or not at all.”

                      Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now (Page 147)

                      Paul Hogan Poem on Capturing Moments (and Maybe When Not To)

                        “Camera loaded, the light

                        near sundown blushes

                        the grey, beat wood

                        of the boathouse, flashes

                        along arcs of the waves.

                        Don’t photograph this. Don’t render it

                        immutable now. Let it

                        distort, let it unravel,

                        reconstruct itself.

                        This image will retell

                        this here and now for years,

                        without conclusion —

                        It will never change,

                        it will always be different,

                        we will never agree. For now,

                        let the light slip down

                        around you. Don’t

                        remember this yet.”

                        Paul Hogan, Point of Departures (Page 37)

                        Beyond the Quote (167/365)

                        In a world where the camera on our phone takes better pictures than most DSLR cameras from just a few years ago, where 4K quality can be held in the palm of one hand and activated with the push of one thumb, where so much of what we see and hear in the world can be so vividly captured and contained within the confines of a memory chip that’s smaller than a penny and backed up by an imaginary cloud—the line between knowing when to be present in a moment and when to capture a moment can become incredibly blurred. Hell, if we wanted to, we could record every moment we ever wanted to and store it into a neat and tidy timeline of moments that could quite literally make up the story of our lives. Rather than our life “flashing before our eyes” at the end, we could playback our lives in a flash with just a few clicks on a computer screen.

                        Read More »Paul Hogan Poem on Capturing Moments (and Maybe When Not To)

                        Richard Carlson Quote on Letting Go Of Expectations and A Short Story About Finding Inner Peace

                          “Whenever you expect something to be a certain way and it isn’t, you’re upset and you suffer. On the other hand, when you let go of expectations, when you accept life as it is, you’re free.”

                          Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff

                          Beyond the Quote (159/365)

                          A wealthy westerner, in search of peace of mind travels east to find a guru who might be able to help. After searching far and wide, through many towns and villages, he finally gets word of just the guru who can help. When they finally meet, the wise guru asks the wealthy westerner what is in the bag that he is holding so close to his heart. The wealthy man explains that it is a large sum of money that will be rewarded to whomever can help him find the inner peace that he so desperately hopes to find. The wise guru paused for a moment and reflected on the offer. Then, to everybody’s surprise, snatched the bag of money right from the man’s hands and ran away!

                          Read More »Richard Carlson Quote on Letting Go Of Expectations and A Short Story About Finding Inner Peace

                          Richard Carlson Quote on How Wherever You Go, There You Are.

                            “Something wonderful begins to happen with the simple realization that life, like an automobile, is driven from the inside out, not the other way around. As you focus more on becoming more peaceful with where you are, rather than focusing on where you would rather be, you begin to find peace right now, in the present. Then, as you move around, try new things, and meet new people, you carry that sense of inner peace with you. It’s absolutely true that, ‘Wherever you go, there you are.’

                            Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff

                            Beyond the Quote (140/365)

                            One of the tragedies that we experience every day is missing out on the moment because we’re somewhere else. Our consciousness is constantly twisted up in what already happened and what we’re anticipating might happen next. And I’m not talking about a few moments out of every day—I’m talking about the vast majority of our moments every day. Let’s see how the following examples sits with you.

                            Read More »Richard Carlson Quote on How Wherever You Go, There You Are.

                            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

                              Ryan Holiday Quote on How Being Present May Be The Hardest Thing In The World

                                “Being present demands all of us.  It’s not nothing.  It may be the hardest thing in the world.”

                                Ryan Holiday, Stillness is the Key (Page 25)

                                Beyond the Quote (138/365)

                                If you’ve ever tried to meditate, then you know how hard it is to be completely present for even a moment of time. Our brains are like monkeys diagnosed with ADD who just drank Red Bulls after taking a long napthey’re out of control. We’re constantly wandering to different trains of thought, replaying past situations, simulating future situations, and thinking about seemingly random and arbitrary things like monkeys and Red Bull and squirrels.

                                Read More »Ryan Holiday Quote on How Being Present May Be The Hardest Thing In The World

                                  “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)

                                    “There’s no greatness in the future.  Or clarity.  Or insight.  Or happiness.  Or peace.  There is only this moment.  Not that we mean literally sixty seconds.  The real present moment is what we choose to exist in, instead of lingering on the past or fretting about the future.  It’s however long we can push away the impressions of what’s happened before and what we worry or hope might occur at some other time.  Right now can be a few minutes or a morning or a year—if you can stay in it that long.” ~ Ryan Holiday, Stillness is the Key (Page 27)

                                    Eckhart Tolle Quote on Taking Responsibility and Making the Present Moment Your Ally

                                      “Maybe you are being taken advantage of, maybe the activity you are engaged in is tedious, maybe someone close to you is dishonest, irritating, or unconscious, but all this is irrelevant.  Whether your thoughts and emotions about this situation are justified or not makes no difference.  The fact is that you are resisting what is.  You are making the present moment into an enemy.  You are creating unhappiness, conflict between the inner and the outer.  Your unhappiness is polluting not only your own inner being and those around you but also the collective human psyche of which you are an inseparable part.  The pollution of the planet is only an outward reflection of an inner psychic pollution: millions of unconscious individuals not taking responsibility for their inner space.”

                                      Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now (Page 77)

                                      Beyond the Quote (82/365)

                                      It’s easy to point fingers, to yell at a screen, to identify all of the faults in other people’s decisions and actions—it’s hard to take responsibility and make positive decisions yourself.  What’s makes this harder is that you might even be right.  The mess of the world might very well be the fault of another—or the fault of many others.  But as Tolle points out, whether your thoughts and emotions about a given situation are justified or not makes no difference.

                                      Read More »Eckhart Tolle Quote on Taking Responsibility and Making the Present Moment Your Ally