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Quotes about Being Present Minded

    “For if we open our eyes and see clearly, it becomes obvious that there is no other time than this instant, and that the past and the future are abstractions without any concrete reality. Until this has become clear, it seems that our life is all past and future, and that the present is nothing more than the infinitesimal hairline which divides them. From this comes the sensation of ‘having no time,’ of a world which hurries by so rapidly that it is gone before we can enjoy it. But through ‘awakening to the instant’ one sees that this is the reverse of the truth: it is rather the past and future which are the fleeting illusions, and the present which is eternally real.”

    Alan Watts, The Way of Zen, via Sunbeams (Page 12)

      “The more fearless a person is, the less mind he uses. The more fearful a person, the more he uses the mind.”

      Osho, Courage (Page 86)

        “There are two types of living: one fear-oriented, one love-oriented. Fear-oriented living can never lead you into deep relationship. You remain afraid, and the other cannot be allowed, cannot be allowed to penetrate you to your very core. To an extent you allow the other, but then the wall comes up and everything stops. The love-oriented person is one who is not afraid of the future, one who is not afraid of the result and the consequence, who lives here and now. Don’t be bothered about the result; that is the fear-oriented mind. Don’t think about what will happen out of it. Just be here and act totally. Don’t calculate. A fear-oriented man is always calculating, planning, safeguarding. His whole life is lost in this way.”

        Osho, Courage (Page 79)

          “Looking at a flower, become the flower; dance around the flower, sing a song. the wind is cool and crisp, the sun is warm, and the flower is in its prime. The flower is dancing in the wind, rejoicing, singing a song, singing alleluia. Participate with it! Drop indifference, objectivity, detachment. Drop all your scientific attitudes. Become a little more fluid, more melting, more merging. Let the flower speak to your heart, let the flower enter your being. Invite him—he is a guest! And then you will have some taste of mystery.”

          Osho, Courage (Page 21)

            “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

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

                  Marcus Aurelius, Medium

                    “Enlightenment is the space between your thoughts.”

                    Naval Ravikant, 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.  

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

                        “The only way I was able to pick up details on the court, to be aware of the minutiae on the hardwood, was by training my mind to do that off the court and focusing on every detail in my daily life. By reading, by paying attention in class and in practice, by working, I strengthened my focus. By doing all of that, I strengthened my ability to be present and not have a wandering mind.”

                        Kobe Bryant, Mamba Mentality (Page 29)

                        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

                            “Any action you take may not bear fruit immediately. Until it does—do not resist what is. If there is no action you can take, and you cannot remove yourself from the situation either, then use the situation to make you go more deeply into surrender, more deeply into the Now, more deeply into Being. When you enter this timeless dimension of the present, change often comes about in strange ways without the need for a great deal of doing on your part.”

                            Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now (Page 210)

                              “I have lived with several Zen masters—all of them cats. Even ducks have taught me important spiritual lessons. Just watching them is a meditation. How peacefully they float along, at ease with themselves, totally present in the Now, dignified and perfect as only a mindless creature can be. Occasionally, however, two ducks will get into a fight—sometimes for no apparent reason, or because one duck has strayed into another’s private space. The fight usually lasts only for a few seconds, and then the ducks separate, swim off in opposite directions, and vigorously flap their wings a few times. They then continue to swim on peacefully as if the fight had never happened. When I observed that for the first time, I suddenly realized that by flapping their wings they were releasing surplus energy, thus preventing it from becoming trapped in their body and turning into negativity. This is natural wisdom, and it is easy for them because they do not have a mind that keeps the past alive unnecessarily and then builds an identity around it.”

                              Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now (Page 190)