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-ZINNNote 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?
More Jon Kabat-Zinn Quotes
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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.
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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?
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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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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.
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Mindfulness is not about getting anywhere else.
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Mindfulness is a way of paying attention, on purpose and non-judgmentally, to what goes on in the present moment in your body, mind and the world around you.
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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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Writing can be an incredible mindfulness practice.
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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.
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When awareness embraces the senses, it enlivens them.
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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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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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He who dies before he dies does not die when he dies.
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Meditation is simply about being yourself and know about who that is.
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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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