Saturday, September 16, 2006

Don't Look at Your Feet

I think perfectionism is based on the obsessive belief that if you run carefully enough, hitting each stepping-stone just right, you won't have to die. The truth is you will die anyway and that a lot of people who aren't even looking at their feet are going to do a whole lot better than you, and have a lot more fun while they're doing it.
- Anne Lamott

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Friday, September 15, 2006

Change Yourself

If you believe in peace, act peacefully; if you believe in love, acting lovingly; if you believe every which way, then act every which way, that's perfectly valid— but don't go out trying to sell your beliefs to the system. You end up contradicting what you profess to believe in, and you set a bum example. If you want to change the world, change yourself.
- Tom Robbins, "Still Life With Woodpecker"

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Thursday, September 14, 2006

Take a Step Back

In meditation you withdraw from others and focus your attention inside to gain purity of mind and Dhamma energy. Then you must become extroverted and use this energy. When you take a long jump, you must first take some steps backward. Then you run, and make the jump. Like this, you first withdraw, observe yourself inside and get the energy. Then you make a long jump into society, to serve society. These two steps cannot be separated.

-S.N. Goenka

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Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Don't Blame the Lettuce

When you plant lettuce, if it does not grow well, you don't blame the lettuce. You look into the reasons it is not doing well. It may need fertilizer, or more water, or less sun. You never blame the lettuce. Yet if we have problems with our friends or our family, we blame the other person. But if we know how to take care of them, they will grow well, like lettuce. Blaming has no positive effect at all, nor does trying to persuade using reason and arguments. That is my experience. No blame, no reasoning, no argument, just understanding. If you understand, and you show that you understand, you can love, and the situation will change.

-Thich Nhat Hanh

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Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Obsession With The Future

Are you always focused on becoming, achieving, and attaining, or alternatively chasing some new thrill or pleasure? Do you believe that if you acquire more things you will become more fulfilled, good enough, or psychologically complete? Are you waiting for a man or woman to give meaning to your life? The mind creates an obsession with the future as an escape from the unsatisfactory present.
-Eckhart Tolle

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Monday, September 11, 2006

Suffering in Success

It does not matter to a man of awareness whether he is successful or unsuccessful, well-known or absolutely unknown, powerful or just a nobody. To a man of awareness, these dualities don't matter at all, because awareness is the greatest treasure. When you have it, you don't want anything else. You don't want to become the president or prime minister of a country.

Those who pursue power suffer even in success - they live in the eternal fear that they might lose it. At first they suffered because they were not successful; now after being successful, too, they are suffering because of a feeling of insecurity.

-Unknown


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