Annie Dillard Quotes

Wherever we are we have the capacity to enjoy the sunshine, the presence of each other and the wonder of our breathing.

Be present in all things and thankful for all things.

Go deep into meditation. and be meditation I mean silence, awareness, witnessing. You can meditate any time of the day, you can meditate working, walking, doing things. Meditation is not something separate from life; it should not be separate, otherwise it remains a little artificial. Meditation should be spread all over life. You should walk in meditation, you should sit in meditation; that means silently, fully aware. Slowly slowly it becomes your very flavour, then the bridge is created.

Stopping is a spiritual art. It is the refuge where we drink life in.

True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future, not to amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears but to rest satisfied with what we have, which is sufficient, for he that is so wants nothing. The greatest blessings of mankind are within us and within our reach. A wise man is content with his lot, whatever it may be, without wishing for what he has not.

Only the present moment contains life.

Be Here Now is all about being present and not fearing what you don't know.

But I don't think of the future, or the past, I feast on the moment. This is the secret of happiness, but only reached now in middle age.

Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the world earth revolves - slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future.

The present moment is the only moment available to us and it is the door to all other moments.

We have forgotten what rocks and plants still know - we have forgotten how to be - to be still - to be ourselves - to be where life is here and now

In an age of speed, I began to think nothing could be more exhilarating than going slow. In an age of distraction, nothing can feel more luxurious than paying attention. And in an age of constant movement, nothing is more urgent than sitting still.

We need to learn to live in the here and now; this moment is the best moment. Live it fully.

So for a period of time each day, try to sit, without moving, without expecting anything, as if you were in your last moment. Moment after moment you feel your last instant. In each inhalation and each exhalation there are countless instants of time. Your intention is to live in each instant.

You don't always have to be doing something. You can just be, and that's plenty.

Learning how to be still, to really be still and let life happen - that stillness becomes a radiance.

Let the clock and the earth do their own thing... Let the comings and goings of life continue... But YOU stay HERE and NOW. This exercise is to bring you to the Eternal Present where it all is.

Our thinking minds deprive us of the happiness that comes when we are living fully in the moment.

When you sit in a café, with a lot of music in the background and a lot of projects in your head, you're not really drinking your coffee or your tea. You're drinking your projects, you're drinking your worries. You are not real, and the coffee is not real either. Your coffee can only reveal itself to you as a reality when you go back to your self and produce your true presence, freeing yourself from the past, the future, and from your worries. When you are real, the tea also becomes real and the encounter between you and the tea is real. This is genuine tea drinking.

Accept that living in the present moment, with your present desires, is the best, the highest thing you can do.

The ability to just sit there. That's being a person.

With a practice, we can always remain alive in the present moment. With mindfulness, you can establish yourself in the present in order to touch the wonders of life that are available in that moment.

You cannot be both unhappy, and fully present in the Now.

I just live my life and try to be present.

I try to live in the moment and let that moment carry me to the next great place.