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Quotes about Thinking

    “One windy day two monks were arguing about a flapping banner. The first said, ‘I say the banner is moving, not the wind.’ The second said, ‘I say the win is moving, not the banner.’ A third monk passed by and said, ‘The wind is not moving. The banner is not moving. Your minds are moving.”

    Zen parable, via Sunbeams (Page 125)

      “What am I doing at a level of consciousness where this is real?”

      Thaddeus Golas, The Lazy Man’s Guide To Entertainment, via Sunbeams (Page 122)

        “The epitome of the human realm is to be stuck in a huge traffic jam of discursive thought.”

        Chögyam Trungpa, The Myth Of Freedom, via Sunbeams (Page 121)

          “We spend most of our time and energy in a kind of horizontal thinking. We move along the surface of things going from one quick base to another, often with a frenzy that wears us out. We collect data, things, people, ideas, ‘profound experiences,’ never penetrating any of them… But there are other times. There are times when we stop. We sit still. We lose ourselves in a pile of leaves or its memory. We listen and breezes from a whole other world begin to whisper. Then we begin our ‘going down.'”

          James Carroll, Sunbeams (Page 22)

            “You were born as a no-mind. Let this sink into your heart as deeply as possible because through that, a door opens. If you were born as a no-mind, then the mind is just a social product. It is nothing natural, it is cultivated. It has been put together on top of you. Deep down you are still free, you can get out of it. One can never get out of nature, but one can get out of the artificial any moment one decides to.”

            Osho, Courage (Page 16)

              “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)

                “It is difficult to think clearly in rooms filled with other people. It’s difficult to understand yourself if you are never by yourself. It’s difficult to have much in the way of clarity and insight if your life is a constant party and your home is a construction site. Sometimes you have to disconnect in order to better connect with yourself and with the people you serve and love.”

                Ryan Holiday, Stillness is the Key (Page 215)

                  “The world is like muddy water.  To see through it, we have to let things settle.  We can’t be disturbed by initial appearances, and if we are patient and still, the truth will be revealed to us.” ~ Ryan Holiday, Stillness is the Key (Page 47)

                    “During the recording of her album Interiors, the musician Rosanne Cash posted a simple sign over the doorway of the studio.  ‘Abandon Thought, All ye Who Enter Here.’  Not because she wanted a bunch of unthinking idiots working with her, but because she wanted everyone involved—included herself—to go deeper than whatever was on the surface of their minds.  She wanted them to be present, connected to the music, and not lost in their heads.” ~ Ryan Holiday, Stillness is the Key (Page 43)

                      “Yes, thinking is essential.  Expert knowledge is undoubtedly key to the success of any leader or athlete or artist.  The problem is that, unthinkingly, we think too much.  The ‘wild and whirling words’ of our subconscious get going and suddenly there’s no room for our training (or anything else).  We’re overloaded, overwhelmed, and distracted… by our own mind!” ~ Ryan Holiday, Stillness is the Key (Page 42)

                      James Allen Quote on Strengthening the Mind

                        “As the physically weak man can make himself strong by careful and patient training, so the man of weak thoughts can make them strong by exercising himself in right thinking.”

                        James Allen, As a Man Thinketh

                        Beyond the Quote (98/365)

                        The connection between careful and patient training and physical improvements is, in my estimation, much more firm than the connection with training and mental or emotional improvements. One of the main reasons for this might be that physical improvements are tangible—we can see the them, feel them, and are constantly being reminded of them.  Every time we look in a mirror or take a selfie on our phone or see pictures that were posted—we are reminded. 

                        Read More »James Allen Quote on Strengthening the Mind

                          “Our job is not to ‘go with our gut’ or fixate on the first impression we form about an issue.  No, we need to be strong enough to resist thinking that is too neat, too plausible, and therefore almost always wrong.  Because if the leader can’t take the time to develop a clear sense of the bigger picture, who will?  If the leader isn’t thinking through all the way to the end, who is?” ~ Ryan Holiday, Stillness is the Key (Page 14)

                            “People organize their brains with conversation.  If they don’t have anyone to tell their story to, they lose their minds.  Like hoarders, they cannot unclutter themselves.  The input of the community is required for the integrity of the individual psyche.  To put it another way: It takes a village to organize a mind.” ~ Jordan Peterson, via 12 Rules for Life (Page 250)