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You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.

Jon Kabat-Zinn

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.
JON KABAT-ZINN

Avoid Darkness Face Way Willing
Just watch this moment, without trying to change it at all. What is happening? What do you feel? What do you see? What do you hear?
JON KABAT-ZINN

Change Feeling Moments Try Yourself
See for yourself whether letting go when a part of you really wants to hold on doesn’t bring a deeper satisfaction than clinging.
JON KABAT-ZINN

Happiness Hold On Let Go Satisfaction
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.
JON KABAT-ZINN

Addiction Brain Conversation People Yourself
He who dies before he dies does not die when he dies.
JON KABAT-ZINN

Death Deep Himself Philosophy
When awareness embraces the senses, it enlivens them.
JON KABAT-ZINN

Aware Embrace Enlightenment Inspirational Live Spiritual
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?
JON KABAT-ZINN

Imitation Journey Path Preparation Respect True Unique Way Yourself
The awareness is not part of the darkness or the pain; it holds the pain, and knows it, so it has to be more fundamental, and closer to what is healthy and strong and golden within you.
JON KABAT-ZINN

Aware Darkness Fundamental Gold Health Hold Pain Strong Yourself
Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally.
JON KABAT-ZINN

Attention Judgment Mindset Moments Pay Present Purpose
Breathing is central to every aspect of meditation training. It’s a wonderful place to focus in training the mind to be calm and concentrated.
JON KABAT-ZINN

Aspect Breathe Calm Concentration Focus Meditation Place Training Wonderful
Paying attention and awareness are universal capacities of human beings.
JON KABAT-ZINN

Attention Capacity Human Pay Universe
Arriving someplace more desirable at some future time is an illusion. This is it.
JON KABAT-ZINN

Arrive Desire Illusion Place
From the point of view of the meditative traditions the entire society is suffering from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
JON KABAT-ZINN

Attention Meditation Point Society Suffering Tradition View
Mindfulness means being awake. It means knowing what you are doing.
JON KABAT-ZINN

Awake Mindset Yourself
The only time that any of us have to grow or change or feel or learn anything is in the present moment. But we’re continually missing our present moments, almost willfully, by not paying attention.
JON KABAT-ZINN

Attention Change Feeling Growth Learning Moments Pay Present Time
Practice moment to moment non-judgemental awareness.
JON KABAT-ZINN

Aware Judgement Moments Practice

You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.

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You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.

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