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Jon Kabat-Zinn

Jon Kabat-Zinn Quotes

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Famous Jon Kabat-Zinn Quotes

“There is really no natural limit to the practice of loving kindness in meditation or in one’s life. It is an ongoing, ever-expanding realization of interconnectedness. It is also its embodiment. When you can love one tree or one flower or one dog or one place, or one person or yourself for one moment, you can find all people, all places, all suffering, all harmony in that one moment. Practicing in this way is not trying to change anything or get anywhere, although it might look like it on the surface. What it is really doing is uncovering what is always present. Love and kindness are here all the time, somewhere, in fact, everywhere. Usually our ability to touch them and be touched by them lies buried below our own fears and hurts, below our greed and our hatreds, below our desperate clinging to the illusion that we are truly separate and alone. (…). Make sure that you are not trying to help anybody else or the planet. Rather, you are simply holding them in awareness, honoring them, wishing them well, opening to their pain with kindness and compassion and acceptance.”

LoveLifeCompassionKindnessMeditationAwarenessAcceptanceMindfulnessIllusionHarmonyTouchedLovingUnlimitedPresenceExpandingRealisationInterconnectednessLoving KindnessUncoveringEverywhereWell WishingAll PeopleAll PlacesHonouringOpening To Pain
Book:Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life
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“When we don't automatically take them (thoughts) personally or believe the stories about "reality" that we build from them,when we can simply hold them in awareness with a sense of curiosity and wonder at their amazing power given their insubstantiality, their limitations,and inaccuracies,then we have a chance right in that moment,in any moment really,to not get caught in their habitual patterning,to see thoughts for what they are,impersonal events. Then in that moment at least, we are already free,ready to act with greater clarity and kindness within the constantly changing field of events that is nothing other than life unfolding-- not always as we think it should,but definitely as it is.”

AwarenessMindfulnessThoughtsPresent Moment
Book:Mindfulness for Beginners: Explore the Infinite Potential that Lies Within This Very Moment
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“But when we start to focus in on what our own mind is up to, for instance, it is not unusual to quickly go unconscious again, to fall back into an automatic-pilot mode of unawareness. These lapses in awareness are frequently caused by an eddy of dissatisfaction with what we are seeing or feeling in that moment, out of which springs a desire for something to be different, for things to change.”

MindDifferentMomentsFeelingsDesireFallFocusSeeingAwarenessSpringInstanceUnconsciousThat MomentUnusualPilotsDissatisfactionFall BackLapsesUnawareness
Book:Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life
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“Awareness is not the same as thought. It lies beyond thinking, although it makes no use of thinking, honoring it's value and it's power. Awareness is more like a vessel which can hold and contain our thinking, helping us to see and know our thought as thought rather than getting caught up in them as reality.”

ThinkingKnowsWarHelpingUseWisdomRealityAgeLyingValuesKnowledgePowerAwarenessMilitaryGloryCaughtOur ThoughtsCaught UpVesselMonarchy
Author:Jon Kabat-Zinn
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“When your alarm goes off and you jump out of bed, what is the nature of the mind in that moment? Are you already like, "oh my God," your calendar pops into your mind and you're driven already, or can you take a moment and just lie in bed and just feel your body breathing. And remember, "oh yeah, brand new day and I'm still alive." So, I get out of bed with awareness, brush my teeth with awareness. When you're in the shower next time check and see if you're in the shower.”

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Author:Jon Kabat-Zinn
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“Mindfulness practice means that we commit fully in each moment to be present; inviting ourselves to interface with this moment in full awareness, with the intention to embody as best we can an orientation of calmness, mindfulness, and equanimity right here and right now.”

LifeMeanMomentsPracticeMeditationAwarenessRight NowMindfulnessIntentionCommitCalmnessOrientationInvitingEquanimityInterfacesMeditation Mindfulness
Book:Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life
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“Mindfulness means moment-to-moment, non-judgmental awareness. It is cultivated by refining our capacity to pay attention, intentionally, in the present moment, and then sustaining that attention over time as best we can. In the process, we become more in touch with our life as it is unfolding.”

MeanMomentsProcessPayAttentionOur LivesAwarenessMindfulnessCapacityPay AttentionPresent MomentUnfoldingJudgmentalSustainingRefiningNon Judgmental
Book:Everyday Blessings: The Inner Work of Mindful Parenting
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“Most of the time, if you're not really paying attention, you're someplace else. So your child might say, "Daddy, I want this," and you might say, "Just a minute, I'm busy." Now that's no big deal-we all get busy, and kids frequently ask for attention. But over your child's entire youth, you may have an enormous number of such moments to be really, fully present, but because you thought you were busy, you didn't see the opportunities these moments presented. . . . People carry around an enormous amount of grief because they missed the little things.”

PeopleIfsWantMayChildrenLittlesMomentsBigsMightKidsAsksOpportunityDealsNumbersGriefAttentionMinutesAwarenessYouthAmountOur ChildrenBusyEnormousPay AttentionYour ChildrenOver YouLittle ThingsDaddyBig Deal
Author:Jon Kabat-Zinn
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