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Sylvia Boorstein

Sylvia Boorstein Books

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“Mindfulness meditation doesn't change life. Life remains as fragile and unpredictable as ever. Meditation changes the heart's capacity to accept life as it is. It teaches the heart to be more accommodating, not by beating it into submission, but by making it clear that accommodation is a gratifying choice.”

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Book:Don't Just Do Something, Sit There: A Mindfulness Retreat with Sylvia Boorstein – A Down-to-Earth Guide to Meditation and Being for Calm, Clarity, and Joy
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“I think a lot about Big Mind-Small Mind, expansive, wide-lens consciousness and contracted, introverted consciousness. I have moments-we all do-when just being alive is a pleasure and a miracle. They feel like moments when the shutters of the mind are open so I can look out. It also feels as if those same shutters have no hooks to fix them in an open position. One small wind and bang-they slam shut.”

IfsThinkingFeelsMindLooksI CanMomentsBigsPleasureConsciousnessAliveAwarenessPositionWindMiracleWideJust BeingHookLensesBangsSlamIntrovertedShuttersSmall Minds
Book:Pay Attention, for Goodness' Sake: Practicing the Perfections of the Heart--The Buddhist Path of Kindness
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“His response is more than sensible. It reflects his understanding that evens unfold as a refelction of precise karmic order and that a benevolent response in all circumstances will be the most healing one. I think he is so universally admired becuase he exemplifies by his behavior the truth that the essence of natural mind, unclouded by greed or anger or delusion, is that of peace.”

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Author:Sylvia Boorstein
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“I am thankful that thus far today I have not had any unkind thoughts or said any harsh words or done anything that I regret. However, now I need to get out of bed and so things may become more difficult.”

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Book:Pay Attention, for Goodness' Sake: Practicing the Perfections of the Heart--The Buddhist Path of Kindness
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“The path of compassion leads to the development of insight. But it doesn't work to say, "Ready, set, go! Be compassionate!" Beginning any practice depends on intention. Intention depends on intuiting-at least a little bit-the suffering inherent in the human condition and the pain we feel, and cause, when we act out of confusion. It also depends on trusting-at least a little bit-in the possibility of a contented, satisfied mind.”

FeelsMindHumansLittlesPainSufferingCausesBitsCompassionPracticePathConditionsPossibilityReadyDependsDevelopmentLittle BitIntentionInsightSatisfiedConfusionCompassionateHuman ConditionInherent
Book:Pay Attention, for Goodness' Sake: Practicing the Perfections of the Heart--The Buddhist Path of Kindness
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“All losses are sad. The end of an important relationship is also a death. When people fall out of love with each other, or when what seemed like a solid friendship falls into ruin, the hope for a shared future--a hope that provided a context and a purpose to life--is gone. [p. 149]”

PeopleImportantEndsLife IsPurposeFallLossGoneFalling In LoveRuinsImportant Relationships
Book:Happiness Is an Inside Job: Practicing for a Joyful Life
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“Heir to your own karma doesn't mean 'You get what you deserve.' I think it means 'You get what you get.' Bad things happen to good people. My happiness depending on my action means, to me, that it depends on my action of choosing compassion--for myself as well as for everyone else--rather than contention. [p.61]”

PeopleThinkingWellsMeanHappensActionCompassionDependsDeserveKarmaThings HappenBad ThingsGood PeopleHeirsContentionBad Things HappenWhat You Deserve
Book:Happiness Is an Inside Job: Practicing for a Joyful Life
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“I know whether or not I am confused most readily by noticing--being mindful of--my capacity for feeling caring concern. ... when I feel myself in caring connection--encouraging, consoling, or appreciating--I feel the twin pleasures of clarity and goodness. It doesn't matter if the connection I feel is to myself or a person I know or people I don't know or even the whole world. The lively impulse of caring is what counts. [p. 20]”

PeopleIfsKnowsWorldFeelsPersonsMatterWholeFeelingsPleasureGoodnessCapacityConcernAppreciateConnectionsCaringWhole WorldClarityImpulseConfusedTwinsLivelyNoticingConsolingI Am Confused
Author:Sylvia Boorstein
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“We have moments of such clarity, of such appreciation of the incredible web of interconnected events that carry us from breath to breath, day to day, as long as we live-and the next moment we fret about how much we weigh. Or who we didn't send a Valentine. Or who forgot to compliment the dinner. Or whatever.”

LongMomentsNextEventsPerspectiveBreathsIncrediblesAppreciationDinnerClarityComplimentDay To DayValentineInterconnected
Book:Pay Attention, for Goodness' Sake: Practicing the Perfections of the Heart--The Buddhist Path of Kindness
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“The Buhha was a monastic, but the practice of mindfulness in the context of any lifestyle is one of renunciation. Every moment of mindfulness renounces the reflexive, self-protecting response of the mind in favor of clear and balanced understanding. In the light of the wisdom that comes from balanced undertanding, attachment to having things be other than what they ar falls away.”

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Author:Sylvia Boorstein
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“We are all dangling in mid-process between what already happened (which is just a memory) and what might happen (which is just an idea). Now is the only time anything happens. When we are awake in our lives, we know what's happening. When we're asleep, we don't see what's right in front of us.”

KnowsIdeasMightHappensProcessMemoriesOur LivesHappenedFrontsHappeningsThings HappenAwakeOnly Time
Book:Pay Attention, for Goodness' Sake: Practicing the Perfections of the Heart--The Buddhist Path of Kindness
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“Imagine how our lives might be if everyone had even a bit more of the Wisdom that comes from seeing clearly. Suppose people everywhere, simultaneously, stopped what they were doing and paid attention for only as long as it took to recognize their shared humanity. Surely the heartbreak of the world's pain, visible to all, would convert everyone to kindness. What a gift that would be.”

PeopleIfsWorldHeartLongMightWould BePainHumanityBitsAttentionKindnessOur LivesImagineSeeingAwarenessPaidVisibleShared Humanity
Author:Sylvia Boorstein
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“If I want to free myself from endless cycles of struggling with temptation, I need to keep rediscovering that the pain of the struggle is greater than the pain of the desire. If I develop the habit of restraining myself, I'll enjoy the relief of feeling the desires pass, and I'll remember that desires are not the problem. Feeling pushed around by them is. I'll continue to have desires, of course, because I'm alive, but they'll be more modest in their demands.”

IfsWantNeedsFeelingsProblemPainRememberDesireCoursesEnjoyStruggleGreaterAliveHabitDemandEndlessTemptationReliefCyclesModestI'm AliveRestraining
Book:Pay Attention, for Goodness' Sake: Practicing the Perfections of the Heart--The Buddhist Path of Kindness
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“Dedication to goodness-dedication in response to an inner moral mandate rather than external restraint-was both the antidote to the pain and the source of great happiness.”

PainMoralSourceGoodnessResponseDedicationRestraintAntidoteGreat HappinessMandates
Book:Pay Attention, for Goodness' Sake: Practicing the Perfections of the Heart--The Buddhist Path of Kindness
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“What if someone hurts you with a weapon? Wait. Think it over. You probably feel angry. That's normal. But wasn't it the stick striking your body that hurt you? Can you be angry at the stick? Of course not. Should you be angry at the wielder of the stick? Wouldn't it make more sense to be angry at the hatred in the mind of the stick wielder? If you think about it, isn't the end of hatred in the world what you want most of all? Why, then, would you add to it by giving energy to your anger? After all, it will pass on its own if left alone, especially if you respond to it with compassion.”

IfsThinkingWorldWantGivingFeelsShouldMindEndsBodyCoursesEnergyLeftWaitingHurtCompassionNormalWeaponsHatredAngryAddSticksWhat You WantYour BodyWhat IfOver YouLeft Alone
Book:Pay Attention, for Goodness' Sake: Practicing the Perfections of the Heart--The Buddhist Path of Kindness
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“It is our own pain, and our own desire to be free of it, that alerts us to the suffering of the world. It is our personal discovery that pain can be acknowledged, even held lovingly, that enables us to look at the pain around us unflinchingly and feel compassion being born in us. We need to start with ourselves.”

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Book:Pay Attention, for Goodness' Sake: Practicing the Perfections of the Heart--The Buddhist Path of Kindness
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“When people ask the Dalai Lama, "Is Buddhism a religion?" he answers, "Yes, it is." Then they ask, "What kind of religion is it?" He responds, "My religion is kindness." You might think, "Everyone's is." Everyone's is. That's true. It's not complicated to describe the goal of a spiritual life. It's easier than you think to explain it. It's more difficult than you can imagine to do it.”

PeopleThinkingKindMightSpiritualReligionAsksDifficultGoalAnswersKindnessImagineBuddhismEasierComplicatedSpiritual LifeLamaDalai
Author:Sylvia Boorstein
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“The Buddha taught that suffering is the extra pain in the mind that happens when we feel an anguished imperative to have things be different from how they are. We see it most clearly when our personal situation is painful and we want very much for it to change. It's the wanting very much that hurts so badly, the feeling of "I need this desperately," that paralyzes the mind. The "I" who wants so much feels isolated. Alone.”

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Book:Pay Attention, for Goodness' Sake: Practicing the Perfections of the Heart--The Buddhist Path of Kindness
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“When we are relaxed and reasonable content, we are naturally wise. We accept that life is unpredictable, unreliable. We say jokingly or philosophically, "Nothing is sure except death and taxes," or "God willing and the creek don't rise," reminding each other that, notwithstanding the level of planning, we are continually dealing with being surprised. We get startled. We recover. We are disappointed. We adjust. Mostly-with Wisdom intact-we manage.”

WisdomLife IsLevelsAcceptingWiseWillingTaxesPlanningGods WillManageReasonableDisappointedUnpredictableRelaxedRemindingUnreliableCreeks
Book:Pay Attention, for Goodness' Sake: Practicing the Perfections of the Heart--The Buddhist Path of Kindness
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