When even one virtue becomes our nature, the mind becomes clean and tranquil. Then there is no need to practice meditation; we will automatically be meditating always. (151)

Mindfulness is the awareness of what is going on in us and around us in the present moment. It requires stopping, looking deeply, and recognizing both the uniqueness of the moment and its connection to...

Watch your thoughts, for they will become the words of people you draw to yourself.

Breath is the finest gift of nature. Be grateful for this wonderful gift.

Inner Peace can be seen as the ultimate benefit of practicing patience.

You are full of your own opinions, artificial concepts and negative speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?” Like the learned professor who wanted to understand spirituality, you too...

True freedom is when all the stories, all the insights, all the realizations, concepts, beliefs and positions dissolve. What remains is what you are; a vast, conscious, luminous space simply resting in itself, not knowing...

What is it about our expectations, plans, or ideas that hold such sway over us? It is as if we’ve written a script for a play of our lives that runs about a month ahead...

As we encounter new experiences with a mindful and wise attention, we discover that one of three things will happen to our new experience: it will go away, it will stay the same, or it...

Like the body craves oxygen, the mind is desperate for certainty. It believes that without a safe foothold on reality, it will die.But the fascinating thing is that the illusion of certainty is exactly the...

We waste so much energy trying to cover up who we are when beneath every attitude is the want to be loved, and beneath every anger is a wound to be healed and beneath every...

Instead of waiting for the right moment, BE the right moment. You won’t be ready for anything if you aren’t ready to be you.

My caregiver mantra is to remember: the only control you have is over the changes you choose to make.

We should live every day like people who have just been rescued from the moon.

Meditation is a microcosm, a model, a mirror. The skills we practice when we sit are transferable to the rest of our lives.

The daily mindfulness, consistency, and discipline is ultimately more important than the amount of time. In other words, it’s more about quality than quantity. If you use 15 minutes effectively, you’ll accomplish more than you...

stay” and settle down. Are we experiencing restlessness? Stay! Are fear and loathing out of control? Stay! Aching knees and throbbing back? Stay! What’s for lunch? Stay! I can’t stand this another minute! Stay!”

Driving in someone elses lane is easy, but remaining in your own seems to be the most challenging self discipline. No matter how big the highway, imagine yours is a singular road traveled in one...

If you are not in control of your thoughts then you are not in control of yourself. Without self-control, you have no real power, regardless of whatever else you accomplish. If you are not aware...

Unconditional Love is the outer expression of Inner Peace.

So what is a good meditator? A good meditator meditates.

Feeling good about yourself is the best sleeping pill of all.

Stress, burnout and strain on the human heart are all increasingly taking their toll for millions of hardworking people. However, even someone who is working in a job that simply ‘pays the bills’ can turn...

This is what it means to be mindful. To watch the thoughts as they come and go without judgment while completely accepting what arises in the present moment.

As those of you with children know, rational parenting is like the Loch Ness Monster. We all hope it’s out there somewhere, but we don’t know anyone who has actually discovered it (and if we...

To be mindful of social phenomena is thus to identify more clearly hatred, greed, and delusion as well as the seeds of wisdom and compassion both around us and in us. (p. 52)

Positive thoughts help us construct a positive life, one thought at a time.

The path of awakening”All of your past selves are walking behind you,like a shadow, waiting for you to awaken fully.Waiting for you to return home. To the Oneness. To love, wisdom, silence and compassion.The child...

Perfection of character is this: to live each day as if it were your last, without frenzy, without apathy, without pretence.

My foot slips on a narrow ledge; in that split second, as needles of fear pierce heart and temples, eternity intersects with present time. Thought and action are not different, and stone, air, ice, sun,...

By practicing meditation we establish love, compassion, sympathetic joy & equanimity as our home.

There is nothing passive about mindfulness. One might even say that it expresses a specific kind of passion—a passion for discerning what is subjectively real in every moment. It is a mode of cognition that...

Sonnets To Orpheus, Part Two, XIIWant the change. Be inspired by the flamewhere everything shines as it disappears.The artist, when sketching, loves nothing so muchas the curve of the body as it turns away.What locks...

The leaves that remain are only a very small part of the tea. The tea that goes into me is a much bigger part of the tea. It is the richest part.We are the same;...

When emotions turn and stay sour, when thoughts become cynical and judgmental, good and compassionate treatment is on the line. Helpers who become sour and cynical tend to begrudge their high need clients for their...

Choiceless awareness – at every moment and in all the circumstances of life – is the only effective meditation.

Everyone’s life changes when they meet their Obi-Wan & their Yoda, or their Morpheus & their Oracle; those who help remove the veil.

When life throws difficulties at us and the mind is restless, emotional resilience will see us through challenging times. We can work through tempestuous emotions and self-doubt and come through them unharmed and avoid self-sabotage...

In a true you-and-I relationship, we are present mindfully, nonintrusively, the way we are present with things in nature.We do not tell a birch tree it should be more like an elm. We face it...

Another thing I’ve been trying to do on my walks is to know what I’m looking at, when I’m looking at it. I want to be smart. When I walk down the sidewalk I see...

Just watch this moment, without trying to change it at all. What is happening? What do you feel? What do you see? What do you hear?

A person’s Acts of #Kindness far outlives their lifespan,for they leave behind a true, meaningful legacy.

not every breakfast needs to be something worthy of posting to a food blog. Sometimes food is simply fuel, something we eat to live. But with TV ads and billboards and in-store displays saying otherwise—in...

You are not your thoughts; you are aware of your thoughts. You are not your emotions; you feelemotions. You are not your body; you look at it in the mirror and experience this world through...

It starts with a single breath and the present moment, but where it takes you is into the vast radiance of your true nature, into a magical, spacious life.

When we experience dissatisfaction at work, which everyone does we can use our disappointment as fuel to wake up.

There are ultimately two choices in life: to fight it or to embrace it. If you fight it you will lose – if you embrace it you become one with it and you’ll be lived.

It stands to reason that anyone who learns to live well will die well. The skills are the same: being present in the moment, and humble, and brave, and keeping a sense of humor. (361)

If I don’t understand you, I may be angry at you, all the time. We are not capable of understanding each other, and that is the main source of human suffering.

A healthy mind observes and questions itself. This is the path to inner peace and happiness. Don’t believe everything you think.