Yamamoto Tsunetomo Quotes

The experience taught me to be present in the real Buddhist sense of paying attention to the moment.

There is a foundation for our lives, a place in which our life rests. That place is nothing but the present moment, as we see, hear, experience what is. If we do not return to that place, we live our lives out of our heads. We blame others; we complain; we feel sorry for ourselves. All of these symptoms show that we're stuck in our thoughts. We're out of touch with the open space that is always right here.

A lot of exercise is mindless; you can have music or the radio on and not be aware. But if you're aware in anything you do - and it doesn't have to be yoga - it changes you. Being present changes you.

Begin where you are. Read every word, every phrase, every paragraph of the mind, as it operates through thought.

Instead of 'watching the thinker,' you can also create a gap in the mind stream simply by directing the focus of your attention into the Now. Just become intensely conscious of the present moment. This is a deeply satisfying thing to do. In this way, you draw consciousness away from mind activity and create a gap of no-mind in which you are highly alert and aware but not thinking. This is the essence of meditation.

Awareness means that whatsoever is happening in the moment is happening with complete consciousness; you are present there. If you are present when anger is happening, anger cannot happen. It can happen only when you are fast asleep. When you are present, immediate, transformation starts in your being, because when you are present, aware, many things are simply not possible. All that is called sin is not possible if you are aware. So, in fact, there is only one sin and that is unawareness.

When you are here and now, sitting totally, not jumping ahead, the miracle has happened. To be in the moment is the miracle.

Wherever you are, be there. Lifestyle is not something we do; it is something we experience. And until we learn to be there, we will never master the art of living well.

I'm here, and I do my best to be completely centered at the place I'm at, then I go forward to the next place.

The only time that any of us have to grow or change or feel or learn anything is in the present moment. But we're continually missing our present moments, almost willfully, by not paying attention.

Give your fullest attention to whatever the moment presents.

I just live my life and try to be present. When I'm present in the moment and something comes, I can capture it, because it doesn't come from me, it's out there.

Be present - and see what a difference it makes in your lives and in the world.

This is how most people live: alive, but not conscious; conscious but not aware; aware, but intermittently.

And we can't avoid an inch of our own experience; if we do it causes a blur, a bleep, a puffy unreality. Our job is to wake up to everything, because if we slow down enough, we see that we are everything.

You lose your habitual behavior, which allowed you to sort of zone out. You have to be here, you have to be now, you have to be present.

Most humans are never fully present in the now, because unconsciously they believe that the next moment must be more important than this one. But then you miss your whole life, which is never not now.

I can enjoy what I'm engaged in and be fully present rather than planning my answers to questions while someone else is speaking or thinking about my next appointment while my current engagement is still in in progress.

Kyra Sedgwick told me, 'Keep your heart where your feet are' and that's incredibly difficult to do. It takes a lot of concentration. You've got to be conscientious of each other.

Attention is the key to transformation- and full attention also implies acceptance.

Today, I choose awareness. I choose to be aware of the beauty of life and living. I choose to be aware of the simple pleasures in life. I choose awareness of joy, awareness of peace, and awareness of love.

The primary purpose of life is in being in the NOW.

The real meditation is how you live your life.

When you are present, you can allow the mind to be as it is without getting entangled in it.

The more you expand your awareness, the more naturally you will be present without effort.