I think the discipline comes with turning that cellphone and Blackberry off and unplugging completely. You do that and you go through some withdrawals in the beginning. You start thinking, ‚Oh, do I need to do this? Do I need to do that?‘ You forget that we were doing just fine with the payphone.

Meditation is not following any system; it is not constant repetition and imitation. Meditation is not concentration.

The most valuable of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, when it has to be done, whether you like it or not.

To complain is always nonacceptance of what is. It invariably carries an unconscious negative charge. When you complain, you make yourself into a victim. When you speak out, you are in your power. So change the situation by taking action or by speaking out if necessary or possible; leave the situation or accept it. All else is madness.

Then suddenly something just kicked me. I kind of woke up and realised that I was in a different atmosphere than you normally are. My immediate reaction was to back off, slow down.

Day by day we should weigh what we have granted to the spirit of the world against what we have denied to the spirit of Jesus, in thought and especially in deed.

You can become blind by seeing each day as a similar one. Each day is a different one, each day brings a miracle of its own. It’s just a matter of paying attention to this miracle.

Man only likes to count his troubles, but he does not count his joys.

The light which puts out our eyes is darkness to us. Only that day dawns to which we are awake. There is more day to dawn. The sun is but a morning star.

What is not started today is never finished tomorrow.

The most happy man is he who knows how to bring into relation the end and beginning of his life.

We never look deeply into the quality of a tree; we never really touch it, feel its solidity, its rough bark, and hear the sound that is part of the tree. Not the sound of wind through the leaves, not the breeze of a morning that flutters the leaves, but its own sound, the sound of the trunk and the silent sound of the roots.

Never say there is nothing beautiful in the world anymore. There is always something to make you wonder in the shape of a tree, the trembling of a leaf.

The gigantic tension before the shooting of an arrow, and the total relaxation seconds later, is my way of connecting to the universe.

I thank you God for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes.

Being at ease with not knowing is crucial for answers to come to you.

Smiling is very important. If we are not able to smile, then the world will not have peace. It is not by going out for a demonstration against nuclear missiles that we can bring about peace. It is with our capacity of smiling, breathing, and being peace that we can make peace.

I’ve been in beautiful landscapes where one is tempted to whip out a camera and take a picture. I’ve learned to resist that.

To realize that you are not your thoughts is when you begin to awaken spiritually.

The man who acquires the ability to take full possession of his own mind may take possession of anything else to which he is justly entitled.

If we were not all so interested in ourselves, life would be so uninteresting that none of us would be able to endure it.

The first and greatest victory is to conquer yourself; to be conquered by yourself is of all things most shameful and vile.

The country would be a lot better off if we stopped having comment sections. And if we got rid of Twitter.

The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be.

There is never time in the future in which we will work out our salvation. The challenge is in the moment; the time is always now.

Small is the number of people who see with their eyes and think with their minds.

It makes no sense to worry about things you have no control over because there’s nothing you can do about them, and why worry about things you do control? The activity of worrying keeps you immobilized.

I’m very type-A, and many things in my life are about control and domination, but eating should be a submissive experience, where you let down your guard and enjoy the ride.

Especially for those of us who lived in single cells, you had the time to sit down and think, and we discovered that sitting down just to think is one of the best ways of keeping yourself fresh and able, to be able to address the problems facing you, and you had the opportunity, also, of examining your past.

The only thing you ever have is now.

Life is one big road with lots of signs. So when you riding through the ruts, don’t complicate your mind. Flee from hate, mischief and jealousy. Don’t bury your thoughts, put your vision to reality. Wake Up and Live!

I never could have done what I have done without the habits of punctuality, order, and diligence, without the determination to concentrate myself on one subject at a time.

We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.

We run carelessly to the precipice, after we have put something before us to prevent us seeing it.

When it comes to social media, there are just times I turn off the world, you know. There are just some times you have to give yourself space to be quiet, which means you’ve got to set those phones down.

Whether you call it Buddhism or another religion, self-discipline, that’s important. Self-discipline with awareness of consequences.

The ability to be in the present moment is a major component of mental wellness.

Many people in this world are still so identified with every thought that arises in their head. There is not the slightest space of awareness there.

I know that one of the great arts that the writer develops is the art of saying, ‚No. No, I’m finished. Bye.‘ And leaving it alone. I will not write it into the ground. I will not write the life out of it. I won’t do that.

We’ve fallen into a trap of ever-widening orbits of contact, and there is a total disregard for the present moment.

Don’t run if you can walk. Don’t walk if you can stand. Don’t stand if you can sit. Don’t sit if you can lie down.

At one point I learned transcendental meditation. This was 30-something years ago. It took me back to the way that I naturally was as a child growing up way in the country, rarely seeing people. I was in that state of oneness with creation and it was as if I didn’t exist except as a part of everything.

If you aren’t in the moment, you are either looking forward to uncertainty, or back to pain and regret.

A great hallmark of mental wellness is the ability to be in the present moment, fully and with no thoughts of being elsewhere.

We are always getting ready to live but never living.

Use your health, even to the point of wearing it out. That is what it is for. Spend all you have before you die; do not outlive yourself.

By letting it go it all gets done. The world is won by those who let it go. But when you try and try. The world is beyond the winning.

Step with care and great tact, and remember that Life’s a Great Balancing Act.

When angry count to ten before you speak. If very angry, count to one hundred.

Enlightened people seldom or never possess a sense of responsibility.

He best keeps from anger who remembers that God is always looking upon him.

Unless one is able to live fully in the present, the future is a hoax.

We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature – trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence… We need silence to be able to touch souls.

Nothing can be by itself alone, no one can be by himself or herself alone, everyone has to inter-be with every one else. That is why, when you look outside, around you, you can see yourself.

Even with all of the things that are so awful, if you walk into your yard and stay there looking at almost anything for five minutes, you will be stunned by how marvelous life is and how incredibly lucky we are to have it.

I guess I’m living in the present more than the past.

It doesn’t take much to make me angry.

Concentration is one of the happiest things in my life.

Whatever is begun in anger ends in shame.

Procrastination is the bad habit of putting off until the day after tomorrow what should have been done the day before yesterday.

You don’t have to give way to careless speech or complaining. You don’t have to let your feelings get in the way of what God wants to do in your life.