You could think of mindfulness as wise and affectionate attention.
JON KABAT-ZINNMindfulness is about being fully awake in our lives. It is about perceiving the exquisite vividness of each moment. We also gain immediate access to our own powerful inner resources for insight, transformation, and healing.
More Jon Kabat-Zinn Quotes
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You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.
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Intelligence is the door to freedom and alert attention is the mother of intelligence.
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The real meditation is how you live your life.
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Meditation is the only intentional, systematic human activity which at bottom is about not trying to improve yourself or get anywhere else, but simply to realize where you already are.
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Too much of the education system orients students toward becoming better thinkers, but there is almost no focus on our capacity to pay attention and cultivate awareness.
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There are a lot of different ways to talk about mindfulness, but what it really means is awareness.
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See for yourself whether letting go when a part of you really wants to hold on doesn’t bring a deeper satisfaction than clinging.
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Living in a chronic state of unawareness can cause us to miss much of what is most beautiful and meaningful in our lives.
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We must be willing to encounter darkness and despair when they come up and face them, over and over again if need be, without running away or numbing ourselves in the thousands of ways we conjure up to avoid the unavoidable.
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Mindful parenting is the hardest job on the planet, but it’s also one that has the potential for the deepest kinds of satisfactions over the life span, and the greatest feelings of interconnectedness and community and belonging.
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Mindfulness means being awake. It means knowing what you are doing.
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In letting go of wanting something special to occur, maybe we can realize that something special is already occurring.
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No one can listen to your body for you. To grow and heal, you have to take responsibility for listening to it yourself.
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Dying without actually fully living, without waking up to our lives while we have the chance, is an ongoing and significant risk.
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If you look at people out on the street, if you look at people at restaurants, nobody’s having conversations anymore. They’re sitting at dinner looking at their phone, because their brain is so addicted to it.
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Meditation is really a non-doing. It is the only human endeavor I know of being where you already are.
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Note that this journey is uniquely yours, no one else’s. So the path has to be your own. You cannot imitate somebody else’s journey and still be true to yourself. Are you prepared to honor your uniqueness in this way?
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Mindfulness is not about getting anywhere else.
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Perhaps the most “spiritual” thing any of us can do is simply to look through our own eyes, see with eyes of wholeness, and act with integrity and kindness.
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Perhaps we just need little reminders from time to time that we are already dignified, deserving, worthy.
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Voluntary simplicity means going fewer places in one day rather than more, seeing less so I can see more, doing less so I can do more, acquiring less so I can have more.
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Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally.
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Practice sharing the fullness of your being, your best self, your enthusiasm, your vitality, your spirit, your trust, your openness, above all, your presence. Share it with yourself, with your family, with the world.
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The real meditation practice is how we live our lives from moment to moment to moment.
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Paying attention and awareness are universal capacities of human beings.
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This is something called “walking meditation.” The goal is to learn to be aware of each and every movement and feeling. I know it seems ridiculous, but it does change the way you experience walking.
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