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Present Moment Quotes

Joseph Jaworski Quote on Beautiful Settings and How They Can Drive You Out Of Yourself

    “Part of the magic of the experience lay in the sheer beauty of the setting: the breathtaking sight of the high mountains, the sweep of the sky, the panorama of the great valley. The beauty drives you out of the self for a moment – so that for this time, the self is not.”

    Joseph Jaworski, Synchronicity

    Beyond the Quote (55/365)

    This is (at least in strong part) why we are so drawn to beautiful destinations.  The sheer beauty of the settings that we travel to pull us out of ourselves—and for that time, the self is not.  It’s an incredible escape that is so cherished because our “monkey minds” drive us crazy.  I’m sure you might be able to relate.  You know the feeling of being unsettled, restless, confused, indecisive?  That’s the monkey mind.  It’s our inner critic and the part of our mind that is most connected to the ego.  The monkey mind insists on being heard, is relentlessly talkative, is constantly pointing to all of our flaws and mistakes, and contends to keep us distracted from doing any kind of deep work all of the time.  It’s exhausting and it’s what makes us want a vacation so damn bad.

    Read More »Joseph Jaworski Quote on Beautiful Settings and How They Can Drive You Out Of Yourself

    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

        “‘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)

          “Your life’s journey has an outer purpose and an inner purpose.  The outer purpose is to arrive at your goal or destination, to accomplish what you set out to do, to achieve this or that, which, of course, implies future.  But if your destination, or the steps you are going to take in the future, take up so much of your attention that they become more important to you than the step you are taking now, then you completely miss the journey’s inner purpose, which has nothing to do with where you are going or what you are doing, but everything to do with how.  It has nothing to do with future but everything to do with the quality of your consciousness at this moment.” ~ Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now (Page 88)

            “Waiting is a state of mind.  Basically, it means that you want the future; you don’t want the present.  You don’t want what you’ve got, and you want what you haven’t got.  With every kind of waiting, you unconsciously create inner conflict between your here and now, where you don’t want to be, and the projected future, where you want to be.  This greatly reduces the quality of your life by making you lose the present.” ~ Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now (Page 86)

              “Are you stressed?  Are you so busy getting to the future that the present is reduced to a means of getting there?  Stress is caused by being ‘here’ but wanting to be ‘there,’ or being in the present but wanting to be in the future.  It’s a split that tears you apart inside.  To create and live with such an inner split is insane.  The fact that everyone else is doing it doesn’t make it any less insane.  If you have to, you can move fast, work fast, or even run, without projecting yourself into the future and without resisting the present.  As you move, work, run — do it totally.  Enjoy the flow of energy, the high energy of that moment.  Now you are no longer stressed, no longer splitting yourself in two.  Just moving, running, working—and enjoying it.  Or you can drop the whole thing and sit on a park bench.  But when you do, watch your mind.  It may say: ‘You should be working.  You are wasting time.’ Observe the mind.  Smile at it.” ~ Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now (Page 84)

                “Are you resisting your here and now?  Some people would always rather be somewhere else.  Their ‘here’ is never good enough.  Through self-observation, find out if that is the case in your life.  Wherever you are, be there totally.  If you find your here and now intolerable and it makes you unhappy, you have three options: remove yourself from the situation, change it, or accept it totally.  If you want to take responsibility for your life, you must choose one of those three options, and you must choose now.  Then accept the consequences.  No excuses.  No negativity.  No psychic pollution.  Keep your inner space clear.” ~ Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now (Page 82)

                  “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 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)

                      “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)

                          “If you no longer want to create pain for yourself and others, if you no longer want to add to the residue of past pain that still lives on in you, then don’t create any more time, or at least no more than is necessary to deal with the practical aspects of your life.  How to stop creating time?  Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have.  Make the Now the primary focus of your life.  Whereas before you dwelt in time and paid brief visits to the Now, have your dwelling place in the Now and pay brief visits to past and future when required to deal with the practical aspects of your life situation.  Always say ‘yes’ to the present moment.  What could be more futile, more insane, than to create inner resistance to something that already is?  What could be more insane than to oppose life itself, which is now and always now?  Surrender to what is.  Say ‘yes’ to life—and see how life suddenly starts working for you rather than against you.” ~ Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now (Page 35)

                          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:

                              “This may be the one-sentence essence of what I learned in my year among the oldest old: to shut down the noise and fears and desires that buffet our days and think about how amazing, really amazing, life is.  Could I do this?  Before the year began, my answer would have been no, that the noise and fears and desires were life itself.  But as the year went along I found myself shifting my focus to the quiet beneath the noise—how unlikely the moment was, how each sliver contained a gift that might never return.  Maybe this was what it meant to think like an old person.  I couldn’t live wholly in the moment, because I had a future to think about, but if I had learned anything, it was to live as if this future were finite, and the present all the more wondrous as a result.” ~ John Leland, Happiness is a Choice You Make (Page 210)

                                “Happiness to me is what’s happening now. Not the next world; it’s not the dance you’re going to tonight.  If you’re not happy at the present time, then you’re not happy.  Some people say, I get that new fur coat for the winter, or get myself a new automobile, I’ll be happy then.  But you don’t know what’s going to happen by that time.  Right now are you happy?  Like me.  I have health problems, but it’s been going on a long time, so it’s secondary.” ~ Fred Jones, via Happiness is a Choice You Make (Page 29)

                                  “We have to live with peace and joy right away and not wait for the future to do it.  We have to be well right now, right here, peaceful and joyful in the present moment.  There is no way to happiness—happiness is the way.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh, No Death, No Fear

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