Sometimes when I am alone in my room in the dark, I practice smiling to myself. I do this to be kind to myself, to take good care of myself, to love myself. I know that if I cannot take care of myself, I cannot take care of anyone else.
The fact that I am standing there and washing bowls is a wondrous reality. I’m being completely myself, following my breath, conscious of my presence, and conscious of my thoughts and actions.
Even if you only stop and focus on your breathing for a few breaths, or for a minute or two, its very valuable.
Artists have to show us what is not going well within the person and within the society, not try to cover it up.
Meditation means to look deeply, to touch deeply, so we can realize we are already home.
Around us, life bursts with miracles, a glass of water, a ray of sunshine, a leaf, a caterpillar, a flower, laughter, raindrops.
Awareness is like the sun. When it shines on things, they are transformed.
Mindfulness is like that – it is the miracle which can call back in a flash our dispersed mind and restore it to wholeness so that we can live each minute of life.
The present moment is the substance with which the future is made. Therefore, the best way to take care of the future is to take care of the present moment. What else can you do?
Take my hand. We will walk. We will only walk. We will enjoy our walk without thinking of arriving anywhere.
A bodhisattva doesn’t have to be perfect. Anyone who is aware of what is happening and who tries to wake up other people is a bodhisattva. We are all bodhisattvas, doing our best.
Your journey to a healthier weight is not a journey that you start and then give up. It is a journey that you are living every day for the rest of your life.
If love is in our hearts, every thought, word, and deed can bring about a miracle. Because understanding is the very foundation of love, words and actions that emerge from our love are always helpful.
When we recognise the virtues, the talent, the beauty of Mother Earth, something is born in us, some kind of connection; love is born.
If we are not able to smile, then the world will not have peace.
Birth is okay and death is okay, if we know that they are only concepts in our mind. Reality transcends both birth and death.
You have an appointment with life, an appointment that is in the here and now.
It is possible to live happily in the here and now. So many conditions of happiness are available-more than enough for you to be happy right now. You don’t have to run into the future in order to get more.
In our consciousness, there are many negative seeds and also many positive seeds. The practice is to avoid watering the negative seeds, and to identify and water the positive seeds every day.
The purpose of a vacation is to have the time to rest. But many of us, even when we go on vacation, don’t know how to rest. We may even come back more tired than before we left.