Susan Orlean Quotes

You can't really live in the past because the present is always present.

Never lookin' back or too far in front of me; the present is a gift and I just wanna be.

When you surrender to what is and so become fully present, the past ceases to have any power. You do not need it anymore. Presence is the key. Now is the key.

And though some days it is very hard, I try not to live for the future. And I try not to dream of the past.

Die to the past every moment. You don't need it. Only refer to it when it is absolutely relevant to the present. Feel the power of this moment and the fullness of Being. Feel your presence.

Enlightenment is the mind that is open to anything, but attached to nothing. That is freedom. No values, no resentment, no grudges. Not carrying the past along with you. Not carrying memories from the past that are hurtful and shameful and embarrassing. Just let all that go and you are living in enlightenment, and you are free for everything.

Embrace your past, but live for now.

I always live in the present. I don’t know the future and no longer have the past. The former oppresses me as the possibility of everything, the latter as the reality of nothing.

Let your dog teach you how to get the most out of life! If we could all be more like our dogs when it comes to living in the moment, being honest and authentic, and learning how to not hold grudges, the entire planet would be a much better place.

Do not pursue the past. Do not lose yourself in the future. The past no longer is. The future has not yet come. Looking deeply at life as it is. In the very here and now, the practitioner dwells in stability and freedom. We must be diligent today. To wait until tomorrow is too late. Death comes unexpectedly. How can we bargain with it? The sage calls a person who knows how to dwell in mindfulness night and day, 'one who knows the better way to live alone.'

Be happy in the moment, that's enough. Each moment is all we need, not more.

The past is gone, the future is not here, now I am free of both. Right now, I choose joy.

I'm not sitting somewhere dwelling on the past. I'm not fretting or obsessing about something in the future.

If you want to experience eternal illumination, put the past and the future out of your mind and remain within the present moment.

I will live this day as if it is my last. …I will waste not a moment mourning yesterday’s misfortunes, Yesterday’s defeats, yesterday’s aches of the heart, for why should I throw good after bad?

Whatever you are doing, don't let past move your mind;don't let future disturb you. Because the past is no more, and the future is not yet.

Some there are that torment themselves afresh with the memory of what is past; others, again, afflict themselves with the apprehension of evils to come; and very ridiculously both - for the one does not now concern us, and the other not yet ... One should count each day as a separate life.

Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.

You have to live in the present, I think.

Presence is the key to freedom, so you can only be free now.

Forget the past. You can never predict what the future is going to be. Live for the moment.

I neither complain of the past, nor do I fear the future.

Bliss cannot be found by remembering the past or anticipating the future.

There is no future, there is no past. I live this moment as my last. There's only us, there's only this. Forget regret, or life is yours to miss. No other road, no other way, no day but today.

That man lives happy and in command of himself, who from day to day can say I have lived. Whether clouds obscure, or the sun illumines the following day, that which is past is beyond recall.