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Famous Joan Tollifson Quotes

“I talked to my friend Frank on the phone that evening. Frank used to live in Vermont and would come to Springwater occasionally for retreats, and then he moved out to California to be a cook, which is where I met him. “I was at work chopping onions yesterday,” he says, “and suddenly I was filled with sadness … because here I am, I’ve got my dream, exactly what I wanted, I’m working at the restaurant I wanted to be at, I have a terrific place to live, and suddenly I was really sad because now I just have to chop the onions, you know?” Isn’t that exactly it? Chopping the onions.”

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Book:Bare-Bones Meditation: Waking Up from the Story of My Life
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“Habit has two parts, Toni [Packer] says. There is the habit itself (finger biting, smoking, drinking, whatever), and there is the observer who wants to stop, who is also a habit. And there is the conflict, the battle between the desire to indulge, which is an escape from what is, and the desire to stop, which is also a movement away from what is.”

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Book:Bare-Bones Meditation: Waking Up from the Story of My Life
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“The concentration of a baby is alive wonderment. It is to that kind of organic interest, or passion, and awareness that Toni [Packer] seems to be pointing: listening that is not rote or methodical in any way. The baby has no sense yet of self-image, of itself as an object—a person—who needs to be improved, and Toni will question any meditation practice that contributes to such a picture.”

AttentionMeditationAwarenessAcceptanceConcentrationNondualityPresenceBeing PresentSpiritual Contemplation
Book:Bare-Bones Meditation: Waking Up from the Story of My Life
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