Alan Cohen Quotes

Look at the world as a reflection of your inner state.

A lot of people would wear anger, depression or aggravation as their first layer, and they don't. They very much understand what's really important in life.

Your outer world is a reflection of your inner world.

Happiness and suffering are feelings - parts of our mind - and so their main causes are not to be found outside the mind. If we really want to be truly happy and free from suffering, we must improve our understanding of the mind.

Mindfulness has helped me succeed in almost every dimension of my life. By stopping regularly to look inward and become aware of my mental state, I stay connected to the source of my actions and thoughts and can guide them with considerably more intention.

Nothing mattered except states of mind, chiefly our own.

Happiness, or misery, is in the mind. It is the mind that lives.

Mindfulness can help people of any age. That's because we become what we think.

Your inner world reflects your outer world.

You have to live with your mind your whole life.

Whatever the dictates of fashion, it seems that those who take the trouble to gain mastery over what happens in consciousness do lead a happier life.

When you practice meditation, the meditator becomes all-important and not the movement of meditation.

Meditation is to be aware of what is going on in your body, in your feelings, in your mind, and in the world.

We deal with our mind from morning until evening. This mind can be our best friend or our worst enemy. We should do everything we can to improve outer circumstances - remedying poverty, inequalities, conflicts, and so on - while also doing our best to achieve a state of mind that give us the inner resources to deal with the ups and downs of life.

What Richard is talking about is instead admitting to the existence of negative thoughts, understanding where they came from and why they arrived, and then - with great forgiveness and fortitude - dismissing them.

It sounds clichéd, but I think the greatest lesson is to not take things personally.

When there is pain, the animal instinct is 'fight or flight' (i.e., to either strike back or run away) - reflect instead. When you can calm yourself down, thinking about the dilemma that is causing you pain will bring you to a higher level and enlighten you, leading to progress.

We are in our Self. We are not in the world.

If you shift from compulsiveness to consciousness, being joyful will not be an effort.

I started teaching myself, taking a breath or a moment that's not overreacting or having an explosion. It made me such a better person. Let alone a better mother, but also just a better human.

Sometimes I wish I wasn't as conscious as I am. It would be so much easier.

We deal with our mind from morning till evening, and it can be our best friend or our worst enemy.

Be at least as interested in what goes on inside you as what happens outside. If you get the inside right, the outside will fall into place.

The interesting thing that happens for many people when they first start meditating is that they'll be doing it for a few months, and they will begin to change, but the experience is so subtle that they're not even aware of it.

Control of consciousness determines the quality of life.