Browse 3271 quotes about Mindfulness.
“There are many ways that the dream state operates, but it is primarily characterized by a lack of awareness to what is actually happening in the present moment, and the consequent dwelling in the mind and its endless thinking, reacting and behaving from unconscious conditioning and programming.”
Source: Awake to What Is: Discovering Peace in the Present Moment
“One of the fundamental delusions that most people have is the delusion that this “I” exists as an independent entity, as something separate from the whole of life.”
Source: Awake to What Is: Discovering Peace in the Present Moment
“The ego is not who we are, it is who we think we are. When we think of our name, our image, our history, and our life experiences as who we are, we become associated with an idea of ourselves, a mental image that is not at all who we are in reality.”
Source: Awake to What Is: Discovering Peace in the Present Moment
“We all have an image of who we are, how we think of ourselves, and how we think others perceive us, but obviously this image is not really who we are; it is just a projection of the mind. When we mistake this illusory entity of thought to be who we actually are we do all kinds of strange and unnecessary things to maintain it and improve it. We feel the need to always state our point of view, push our beliefs onto others, tell them about our experiences, tell them who we are, what we like, what we dislike, and so on…always focused on “me.”
Source: Awake to What Is: Discovering Peace in the Present Moment
“If we stop completely, not just outwardly, but inwardly, we will see that there is no truth to our self-image; it is completely mind-made.”
Source: Awake to What Is: Discovering Peace in the Present Moment
“Everything that makes up your organism comes from the environment in which you live.”
Source: Awake to What Is: Discovering Peace in the Present Moment
“To remove our beliefs is to open ourselves up to the possibility that everything we know about reality is untrue.”
Source: Awake to What Is: Discovering Peace in the Present Moment
“Language is an attempt to define life in linear words and symbols, but in reality, everything everywhere is happening all together at once, and to explain the totality of this with language is impossible. Thus, to awaken to the truth of reality, the truth of who we are, we must go beyond our language and intellectual way of understanding life.”
Source: Awake to What Is: Discovering Peace in the Present Moment
“It isn’t until we begin to observe our minds that we notice just how prevalent thoughts are in our experience.”
Source: Awake to What Is: Discovering Peace in the Present Moment
“Ultimately, it is not the circumstances in life that affect us, but how we choose to perceive those circumstances.”
Source: Awake to What Is: Discovering Peace in the Present Moment
“It is our perception—of ourselves and of reality—that determines our experience.”
Source: Awake to What Is: Discovering Peace in the Present Moment
“We do not need an ashram or church, some secret initiation, a guru’s blessing, or an intentional community. As helpful or supportive as those may be at times, ultimately, what we need is the willingness to look at ourselves honestly, to feel what emotions lie within us, to acknowledge our thoughts and actions, to choose to be aware of what we ignore or suppress, and to let go of what limits and distracts us so we can open ourselves fully to the truth of life in this moment.”
Source: Awake to What Is: Discovering Peace in the Present Moment
“The way that we experience reality is determined by how our mind perceives reality.”
Source: Awake to What Is: Discovering Peace in the Present Moment
“Our perception of reality is not reality itself, but it is the lens through which we view reality. It is like looking outside through a stained-glass window—if we look through red glass, the outside world will appear to be red; if we look through blue glass, the outside world will appear to be blue. The outside world isn’t changing, we are just observing it through different colors of glass, which make it appear to have the same color as whatever color glass that we look through.”
Source: Awake to What Is: Discovering Peace in the Present Moment
“All human beings throughout the world are conditioned. It is an obvious and undeniable fact.
Yet, many of us are unaware of this fact of our conditioning. We are unaware of the ways in which our culture influences our minds and shapes our perception of reality. We do not realize that most of our thoughts, opinions, and beliefs are not really our own, but were simply inherited by our family and the society that we were raised in.”
Source: Awake to What Is: Discovering Peace in the Present Moment
“We all have only one true emotional need as human beings, and that is the need to feel loved. The majority of our actions aim towards this goal in one way or another. We seek relationships, we seek fame or success, we act (or don’t act) in certain ways simply because we feel the need to be accepted, the need to be recognized, the need to feel loved. This is a very powerful thing to realize.”
Source: Awake to What Is: Discovering Peace in the Present Moment
“It is actually not the objective circumstances that determine whether an event is traumatic, it is our interpretation, our subjective emotional experience of the event.”
Source: Awake to What Is: Discovering Peace in the Present Moment
“The psychological suffering of human beings on such a mass scale manifests as the physical suffering we see and experience in the world today. It is ignorant to objectify this suffering as if it were something outside of us, belonging only to the world and to those unfortunate beings who experience it. It is within each one of us, and to acknowledge our suffering is the only way to start to heal it, and by healing the suffering within ourselves, we help to heal the suffering of the world.”
Source: Awake to What Is: Discovering Peace in the Present Moment
“By healing the suffering within ourselves, we help to heal the suffering of the world.”
Source: Awake to What Is: Discovering Peace in the Present Moment
“We often do not experience reality directly as it is, but rather we impose our own mental concepts and illusions onto reality, and then react to our own projections as if they were true.”
Source: Awake to What Is: Discovering Peace in the Present Moment
“If you have ever watched a football game, you will likely recall that while the game is being played, there is a commentator who is narrating the plays of the game and making interpretations. Our thoughts are just like this. In our mind, we have the direct experience and we have the commentator that narrates and describes our direct experience.
The commentator of a football game isn’t really necessary, and he doesn’t affect the activity of the game in any way. He is just describing the game to the audience, and doing so from his perspective, with his own opinions, based on his mood, memory, education, past experiences and so on. In ourselves, the commentator is also unnecessary, and does not change the experience that it is commenting on. It merely describes it from its own biased perspective, with its own opinions, based on its mood, memory, education, past experiences, and so on.
Our problem is that we have mistaken the comments of the commentator for the reality that is being commented on. We have confused our own identity as being that of the commentator, and we believe that what is being described is actually the truth of reality.”
Source: Awake to What Is: Discovering Peace in the Present Moment
“While we fear the discomfort of dissolving our fixed beliefs and mental patterns, we often overlook the fact that it is because of these mental patterns that we are unhappy in the first place.”
Source: Awake to What Is: Discovering Peace in the Present Moment
“To awaken to the truth of our being we have to be willing to look at the illusions that veil us from this truth, and we must be willing to surrender these illusions so we can perceive reality clearly as it is in the present moment.”
Source: Awake to What Is: Discovering Peace in the Present Moment
“A creative mind remains in constant awareness and has a deeper connection with the Universe”
“A Meditative mind is like a pool of water reflecting the universe. Even if a stone is thrown - such a mind will resonate with the splash, enjoy the ripples as they spread, and admire the journey as it goes down”
“The practice of meditation is like a long journey in the beautiful countryside. If you focus on the brakes, the speed dial, the accelerator, the mirror too often - you will take the fun out of the journey”
“Meditation is like a lullaby to the mind. Like the body, the mind too needs rest.”
“Mindfulness is the difficult art of simply replacing thinking with experiencing.”
“Every time the mind wanders away from the awareness of the breath, notice that it has wandered and bring your awareness back to the breath. This can be likened to a rep in the gym—every time you bring your mind back, you are building your "muscle" of attention.”
Source: Practical Meditation for Beginners: 10 Days to a Happier, Calmer You
“By choosing to become aware, you choose to take back control of your attention and perspective, which can transform even mundane tasks, such as washing dishes or making coffee, into something joyful and beautiful.”
Source: Practical Meditation for Beginners: 10 Days to a Happier, Calmer You
“Achieving the advanced state of no-thought is not about stopping the thinking process, but rather, it’s about cultivating an expansive sensitivity to a level above the thinking mind.”
Source: Practical Meditation for Beginners: 10 Days to a Happier, Calmer You
“If your mind wanders, all that means is that you’re alive and your brain is functioning normally, which is great news!”
Source: Practical Meditation for Beginners: 10 Days to a Happier, Calmer You
“Your mind wanders, you bring it back. This is the exercise—and the practice—of meditation.”
Source: Practical Meditation for Beginners: 10 Days to a Happier, Calmer You
“Thoughts are the input and output of the mental process. Making thoughts is what the brain is built for—like the heart beats, the mind thinks.”
Source: Practical Meditation for Beginners: 10 Days to a Happier, Calmer You
“Be aware that the concept of meditation is to shift your focus to the awareness of the thinking process, rather than the content of the thoughts.”
Source: Practical Meditation for Beginners: 10 Days to a Happier, Calmer You
“Count on your beginner's mind to help you through any times when you might feel resistant or self-conscious about your practice.”
Source: Practical Meditation for Beginners: 10 Days to a Happier, Calmer You
“In zazen, you create the conditions for your mind to “decompress” from its habitual mode of thinking and open up to new perspectives and insight.”
“Zazen can ultimately retrain your mind to see the world from an entirely new perspective.”
Source: Practical Meditation for Beginners: 10 Days to a Happier, Calmer You
“The monks find comfort, contentment, and even joy in the simplest of tasks, living each moment to its fullest by grounding themselves in the present.”
Source: Practical Meditation for Beginners: 10 Days to a Happier, Calmer You
“A beginner’s mind allows you to remain flexible and open, even as you encounter new things that may seem strange or even uncomfortable at first.”
Source: Practical Meditation for Beginners: 10 Days to a Happier, Calmer You
“A beginner’s mind allows you to remain flexible and open, even as you encounter new things that may seem strange or even uncomfortable at first. It also allows you to experience something mundane from an entirely new perspective, whereas an expert might approach something believing they “already get it.”
Source: Practical Meditation for Beginners: 10 Days to a Happier, Calmer You
“With a beginner’s mind, we can all become more fluid in our understanding and thereby pave the way for a more fulfilling and balanced future.”
Source: Practical Meditation for Beginners: 10 Days to a Happier, Calmer You
“Sitting for meditation is the classic technique for a reason: Being physically still can help you still your mind.”
Source: Practical Meditation for Beginners: 10 Days to a Happier, Calmer You
“In the modern world, there seems to be a collective understanding of the word Zen—it has become synonymous with serenity, relaxation, and a calm demeanor.”
“Unlike many other traditions, in Zen, emphasis is placed on the direct experience of enlightenment—experiencing insight through meditation—rather than on the study of the sacred texts of Eastern traditions.”
Source: Practical Meditation for Beginners: 10 Days to a Happier, Calmer You
“Zazen is a great technique to start with because it is so straight- forward and uncomplicated.”
Source: Practical Meditation for Beginners: 10 Days to a Happier, Calmer You
“Attention focused on the breath redirects your awareness from outside your body to inside it. It is an exercise in controlling the focus of your awareness.”
Source: Practical Meditation for Beginners: 10 Days to a Happier, Calmer You
“Zazen practice develops our understanding of our connectedness to the world into which we were born, the world in which we live—which is also the world we are creating together, moment by moment.”
Source: Practical Meditation for Beginners: 10 Days to a Happier, Calmer You
“Zen is an especially intriguing school of Buddhism because it brings to mind paradoxical images of monks happily living quiet lives, meditating on mountaintops, as well as powerful martial artists.”
Source: Practical Meditation for Beginners: 10 Days to a Happier, Calmer You
“In the ever-accelerating modern world, with new technology constantly bombarding our senses and demanding schedules pulling us in different directions, the benefits of a practice like zazen are easy to overlook but profoundly powerful to practice.”
Source: Practical Meditation for Beginners: 10 Days to a Happier, Calmer You