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Jon Kabat-Zinn

Jon Kabat-Zinn Quotes

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Famous Jon Kabat-Zinn Quotes

“When we let go of wanting something else to happen in this moment, we are taking a profound step toward being able to encounter what is here now. If we hope to go anywhere or develop ourselves in any way, we can only step from where we are standing. If we don't really know where we are standing—a knowing that comes directly from the cultivation of mindfulness—we may only go in circles, for all our efforts and expectations. So, in meditation practice, the best way to get somewhere is to let go of trying to get anywhere at all.”

IfsKnowsWayTryingMayMomentsHappensAbleHopeEffortStepsPracticeKnowingMeditationLetting GoMindfulnessExpectationsStandingProfoundCirclesBest WayEncountersCultivationMeditation Practice
Book:Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life
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“How we see and hold the full range of our experiences in our minds and in our hearts makes an enormous difference in the quality of this journey we are on and what it means to us. It can influence where we go, what happens, what we learn, and how we feel along the way.”

WayFeelsMindHeartMeanHappensDifferencesQualityJourneyInfluenceEnormousRange
Book:Everyday Blessings: The Inner Work of Mindful Parenting
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“In Asian languages, the word for mind and the word for heart are same. So if you’re not hearing mindfulness in some deep way as heartfulness, you’re not really understanding it. Compassion and kindness towards oneself are intrinsically woven into it. You could think of mindfulness as wise and affectionate attention.”

IfsThinkingWayMindHeartLanguageUnderstandingAttentionCompassionKindnessWiseMindfulnessOneselfHearingAsianWovenAffectionateKindness And Compassion
Author:Jon Kabat-Zinn
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“Life on earth is a whole, yet it expresses itself in unique time-bound bodies, microscopic or visible, plant or animal, extinct or living. So there can be no one place to be. There can be no one way to be, no one way to practice, no one way to learn, no one way to love, no one way to grow or to heal, no one way to live, no one way to feel, no one thing to know or be known. The particulars count.”

KnowsWayLifeFeelsWholeBodyEarthGrowsAnimalKnownPracticeOne ThingUniquePlantBoundsHealOne WayVisibleWay To Live
Author:Jon Kabat-Zinn
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“Perhaps we just need little reminders from time to time that we are already dignified, deserving, worthy. Sometimes we don't feel that way because of the wounds and the scars we carry from the past or because of the uncertainty of the future. It is doubtful that we came to feel undeserving on our own. We were helped to feel unworthy. We were taught it in a thousand ways when we were little, and we learned our lessons well.”

WayLifeNeedsFeelsWellsLittlesSometimesPastTaughtLessonsThousandWorthyWoundsUncertaintyInsecurityScarRemindersUnworthyDeservingDoubtfulUndeserving
Author:Jon Kabat-Zinn
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“Perhaps ultimately, spiritual simply means experiencing wholeness and interconnectedness directly, a seeing that individuality and the totality are interwoven, that nothing is separate or extraneous. If you see in this way, then everything becomes spiritual in its deepest sense. Doing science is spiritual. So is washing the dishes.”

IfsWayMeanSpiritualSeeingMindfulnessIndividualityDishesWholenessWashingTotalityInterconnectedness
Book:Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness meditation for everyday life
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“We must be willing to encounter darkness and despair when they come up and face them, over and over again if need be, without running away or numbing ourselves in the thousands of ways we conjure up to avoid the unavoidable.”

IfsWayLifeNeedsRunningFacesDarknessWillingDespairCome UpEncountersRunning AwayNumbing
Book:Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life
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“It’s interesting to look at your children as line-in Zen masters who can put their finger on places where you’re resistant, or thinking narrowly, in ways noone else can. You can either lose your mind and your authenticity in the process of reacting to all that stuff, or you can use it as the perfect opportunity to grow and nourish your children by attending to what is deepest and best in them and in yourself.”

ThinkingWayMindLooksChildrenUseOpportunityGrowsStuffProcessLosesLinesPerfectInterestingMastersOur ChildrenFingersAuthenticityYour ChildrenReactingAttendingZen Master
Author:Jon Kabat-Zinn
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“Another way to look at meditation is to view thinking itself as a waterfall, a cascading of thought. In cultivating mindfulness, we are going beyond or behind our thinking, much the way you might find a vantage point in a cave or depression in the rock behind a waterfall. We still see and hear the water, but we are out of the torrent.”

ThinkingWayLooksStillsMightWaterViewsBehindsMeditationRocksMindfulnessLook At MeCavesAnother WayCultivatingWaterfallsVantage Point
Author:Jon Kabat-Zinn
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“My father was a world-class scientist and my mother was a prolific painter. I could see that my parents had completely different ways of knowing and understanding the world, and relating to it. My father approached things through scientific inquiry and exploration, while my mother experienced things through her emotions and senses.”

WorldWayDifferentMotherFatherParentUnderstandingEmotionClassKnowingScientistSensesPainterDifferent WaysExplorationInquiryWorld ClassUnderstanding The WorldKnowing And Understanding
Author:Jon Kabat-Zinn
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“Sometimes shutting off the sound on the television can allow you to actually watch the game and take it in in an entirely different and more direct way - a first-order, first-person experience - rather than filtered through the mind of another.”

WayMindFirstsPersonsDifferentSometimesOrderGamesSoundWatchesTelevisionDirectFirst Person
Book:Mindfulness for Beginners: Reclaiming the Present Moment—and Your Life
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