Peter McWilliams Quotes

The secret of happiness is to admire without desiring. And that is not happiness.

Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success: you have to let it happen by not caring about it.

The key is to be Zen-like and be happy with what one has.

The Dalai Lama has taught me that the best way to live life is to try and avoid desire. Desire is really the basic source of unhappiness.

True happiness is... to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future.

I don't regret the passing of time. I try to live in the present, which should mean my life's full.

Enjoy doing nothing, and you can enjoy doing anything. Enjoy having nothing, and you can enjoy whatever you have.

It is possible to live happily in the here and the 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.

I try not to get too ahead of myself. I try to be happy where I am.

You can't ever get everything you want. It is impossible. Luckily, there is another option: You can learn to control your mind, to step outside of the endless cycle of desire and aversion.

If only we'd stop trying to be happy we'd have a pretty good time.

Don't wait to be successful at some future point. Have a successful relationship with the present moment and be fully present in whatever you are doing. That is success.

I just see what's in front of me. That's what I'm happy with.

I have no definition of life. Just be happy and don't think about the past.

It's hard, but I try not to think of happiness as either pending or in the past.

My motto is never to hold on to anything. I accept and then let go: not just the negatives, but the praise, too. Or it'll get to my head.

Be happy now. It's a great Western disease that we'll be happy in the future - when we get higher status or that BMW or that promotion or this project finished. Instead, be happy now.

When you focus on want, you become an endless cycle of wants. To get, simply release, and then gently invite.

Joyful let the soul be in the present, let it disdain to trouble about what is beyond and temper bitterness with a laugh. Nothing is blessed forever.

Enjoy everything that happens in your life, but never make your happiness or success dependent on an attachment to any person, place, or thing.

The happiness we seek cannot be found through grasping, trying to hold on to things. It cannot be found through getting serious and uptight about wanting things to go in the direction we think will bring happiness. We are always taking hold of the wrong end of the stick. The point is that the happiness we seek is already here and it will be found through relaxation and letting go rather than through struggle.

Experiment with this a little. During these days that you are here with me, don't nourish any desire for happiness, and then see how your heart becomes filled with happiness. Don't have any desire for peace, and see how the turmoil within you vanishes. Don't beg for contentment and see how contentment showers down on you. Please try this - only then will you understand.

I focus on spiritual wealth now, and I'm busier, more enthusiastic, and more joyful than I have ever been.

I do think it's important to live in the present because in that way you won't be living in a state of regret.

My philosophy is to take one day at a time. I don't worry about the future. Tomorrow is even out of sight for me.