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.
JON KABAT-ZINNMindfulness means being awake. It means knowing what you are doing.
More Jon Kabat-Zinn Quotes
-
-
From the point of view of the meditative traditions the entire society is suffering from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
JON KABAT-ZINN -
Intelligence is the door to freedom and alert attention is the mother of intelligence.
JON KABAT-ZINN -
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.
JON KABAT-ZINN -
Stillness, insight, and wisdom arise only when we can settle into being complete in this moment, without having to seek or hold on to or reject anything.
JON KABAT-ZINN -
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.
JON KABAT-ZINN -
In letting go of wanting something special to occur, maybe we can realize that something special is already occurring.
JON KABAT-ZINN -
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.
JON KABAT-ZINN -
When you’re walking, just walk. When you’re eating, just eat. Not in front of the TV, not with the newspaper. It turns out, that’s huge.
JON KABAT-ZINN -
See if you can give yourself gifts that may be true blessings, such as self-acceptance , or some time each day with no purpose. Practice feeling deserving enough to accept these gifts without obligation – to simply receive from yourself, and from the universe.
JON KABAT-ZINN -
It is indeed a radical act of love just to sit down and be quiet for a time by yourself.
JON KABAT-ZINN -
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.
JON KABAT-ZINN -
There are a lot of different ways to talk about mindfulness, but what it really means is awareness.
JON KABAT-ZINN -
The real meditation practice is how we live our lives from moment to moment to moment.
JON KABAT-ZINN -
When awareness embraces the senses, it enlivens them.
JON KABAT-ZINN -
When you pay attention to boredom it gets unbelievably interesting.
JON KABAT-ZINN -
Practice moment to moment non-judgemental awareness.
JON KABAT-ZINN -
Mindfulness means being awake. It means knowing what you are doing.
JON KABAT-ZINN -
All the suffering, stress, and addiction comes from not realizing you already are what you are looking for.
JON KABAT-ZINN -
The real meditation is how you live your life.
JON KABAT-ZINN -
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 -
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 -
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.
JON KABAT-ZINN -
But you cannot have harmony without a commitment to ethical behavior. It’s the fence that keeps out the goats that will eat all the young shoots in your garden.
JON KABAT-ZINN -
Healing is a coming to terms with things as they are, rather than struggling to force them to be as they once were, or as we would like them to be, to feel secure or to have what we sometimes think of as our own way.
JON KABAT-ZINN -
Arriving someplace more desirable at some future time is an illusion. This is it.
JON KABAT-ZINN -
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