This book actually took me more than a week to read because it is a daily reflection book - so there's one page per day of the year in the book. Each page has a quote and a reflection; with the former being from various faiths. It is a diverse book in terms of beliefs and reflections.
These are some things I want to remember:
- The greatest accomplishment in life is to be who or what you are. (Abbot Thomas Keating)
- Look within to identify our true self and work throughout the year to express it.
- The choice is between nonviolene and nonexistence. (Martin Luther King, Jr.)
- Reason, common sense, and the enduring wisdom of our great religions call us to the realization of our responsibility to embrace this course if we want to survive as a species in a larger community of species. Nonviolence summons us to the clear recognition that we are a fragile human family in a fragile world. In a very real sense, our choice is really between inner growth and destruction.
- Our attachments hold us back from experiencing true happiness. Freeing ourselves from the bondage of attachment requires a mind trained in the pursuit of liberation, a mind able to let go of all that hinders.
- We have to prepare the house by living a committed spiritual life, putting aside time each day for prayer, and most of all practicing compassion and love.
- My religion is kindness...I'd rather be kind than right...You can always be kind. (Tanzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama)
- Kindness....is the bond connecting all beings in the great web of interdependence in which we all participate and by which we are sustained.
- When we are living in harmony with our nature then we cannot resist being kind, loving, passionate, and merciful.
- If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other. (Mother Teresa)
- Only when we remember our inescapable relatedness to one another will peace become a reality.
- Cultivate joy as you would a dear friendship.
- If you would be happy all your life, plant a garden. (Chinese proverb)
- It is often the simple things in life that greatly enrich us and teach us things about ourselves we never knew, but they also open up for us aspects of reality that are necessary for our happiness. Let us not fritter life away in a kind of work and passive entertainment. Rather let us learn the value of contemplation in the power of the simple.
- The mind is like a parachute - it only works when it's open. (Lily Tomlin)
- Genuine growth is only possible if we are open and listening. A closed mind is a recipe for stagnation and mediocrity. People are always threatened by change, especially if it requires them to stretch beyond feelings of security and assumptions about happiness. An open mind and an open heart are indispensable to achieving real maturity, and, even more important, becoming an agent in the happiness of others. Let us strive to keep our minds and hearts open, the openness that education engenders and spirituality develops.
- True greatness is found in the humble disposition. It is an acceptance of reality balanced with an openness to positive change.
- Creativity leads beyond the routine safety of the known. The creative spirit is never satisfied with what we know - or think we know - with past achievements, or the comforts that lull us into a mechanical living of life. Creativity involves stretching beyond our current understanding, attitudes, capacities, and opinions. Through creativity, culture continues to evolve on the back of innovation.
- The creative mind is never content with our current assumptions unless they are founded on deep truth.
- It is not death that is the tragedy of life....[but] what you let die when you are alive. (Robert Muller)
- When they are young, most people have a genuine desire to serve the world, to selflessly contribute to humanity's future and to be future of all sentient beings. Yet many become disillusioned with age and give up on their earlier desire. They settle for something less, like simply achieving the American dream. That dream isn't bad; it's just not enough to realize our potential as spiritual beings.
- A dream that I dream alone is only a dream, but a dream that we dream together is reality. (Raul Seixas).
- Great societal changes...require vision and a movement.
- When we have a worthy dream, an inspired vision, we cannot keep it to ourselves; we must share it with others if it is to catch the popular imagination and eventually become imbedded in others' collective hopes, becoming the dream of the people.
- Music inspires, opening minds and moving hearts. Great music appeals to our emotions, stirs up feelings, aspirations, and possibilities.
- Let us be aware of music's potential to lead us and inspire us. Let us allow music to carry our deepest intention.
- The highest wisdom is kindness. (Berakot)
- Kindness will eventually transform the entire existence of an individual, having reverberations in the community and the world. Let us allow ourselves to be refashioned by the effective and beautiful quality of kindness.
- When we become truly established in other-centeredness, where we put the well-being of the community above our own self-interest, then we somehow also speak and act for the Divine.
- Zen Buddhism infuses that country's ancient culture, whoever is so grounded in right motivation and behavior thinks, speaks, and acts in the light of the ancestors.
- All we need to know is present in the world; it is written in the nature of the earth. Let us dedicate ourselves to discovering that natural wisdom present in the world so that we can spread this awareness and change the course of the world.
- Courage does not ignore danger, nor does it negate fear; it concentrates on what must be done and on the hope of something better.
- Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.
- It is always the secure who are humble. (G.K. Chesterton)
- The humble are secure precisely because they are humble, and the secure are secure because they have this humility of heart....the security...comes from wisdom.
- It is the easiest thing in the world for a person to deceive himself. (Benjamin Franklin)
- We deceive ourselves when we ruthlessly seek our wants or use other people to obtain them. We lie to ourselves to shield our conscience from the truth. When we deceive ourselves, we are hurting ourselves the most. The cure is pure honesty and humility. True humility never tolerates self-deception.
- Seek the company of the wise, to associate with people who have a similar conviction, who are looking in the same direction. One virtue implies others: A generous soul may also be courageous, kin, compassionate, loving, and patient.
- The purpose each one of us has is not merely a mission external to us, but has a lot to do with unfolding and developing our gifts, especially who we are in our capacity for mercy, kindness, and love, the cultivation of which is an essential part of the task of life.
- Until humankind extends its circle of compassion to all living things, it will not itself find peace. (Albert Schweitzer)
- There is no possibility of a mature spiritual life without humility. Nor is it possible to be a successful human being without it. Humility is also, most fundamentally, a relationship of truth with ourselves.
- We acknowledge our mistakes, not years from now, but when they are made. We must be willing to own up to these mistakes before others and not simply ourselves.
- In compassion, kindness, and love, we discern what is needed and we respond. We are a good listener to some, a provider of strength to others, a fierce advocate and prophet to still others.
- No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave. (Calvin Coolidge)
- Individual happiness by itself, alone is an illusion. It's superficial and doesn't last. When we work for the happiness of others, or as the poet Ralph Waldo Emerson says, pour it on others, we become happy in the process. What we give out returns to us, and if we are constantly contributing to the welfare, joy, and happiness of others, we will receive these blessings in return.
- The first step in personhood is to allow ourselves to be loved. (John Main)
- When we accept love from others, we open ourselves to the possibility to genuine happiness, which arises in us as we find ourselves giving love in return. Being loved increases our own capacities to love - to be merciful, kind compassionate, and sensitive - all capacities that lead to true happiness. Love opens up the whole spectrum of human greatness: other-centeredness, self-sacrifice, heroic virtue, joy, and deeds of extraordinary generosity.
- You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late. (Anonymous)
- We don't know if we have a tomorrow here in this world: we have no guarantees. But we do have the present moment, the now, and that's where we can choose to be kind, to respond to a loving, compassionate way.
- As soon as the waves have stopped and the lake has become quiet, we see its bottom. So with the mind when it is calm, we see what our nature is.
- Giving of ourselves to help others works in two ways: it benefits the recipient and it benefits the giver.
- Teaches open the door. You enter yourself.
- A person's true wealth is the good he does in this world. (Muhammad)
- None of the material wealth of this world lasts. The only things that follow us into eternity are our good works.
- The only reason for material wealth is to share it with the less fortunate, not to hoard it for oneself. This is our glory as spiritual beings: to assuage the sufferings of others, to others, to offer what we have to those in need.
- The end and aim of all education is the development of character. (Francis W. Parker)
- The medieval Christian ideal of learning also focused on the education of the whole peson: body, soul, and spirit.
- The Tibetan tradition places great emphasis on the good heart.
- We simply pay too much attention to facts and skills and not enough to fostering responsibility, ethics, charity, and kindness.
- Our relationship with the natural world is not primarily stewardship. It's primarily rapport, admiration, interaction with, and listening to. (Thomas Berry)
- The soul is the sense of something higher than ourselves, something that stirs in us thoughts, hopes, and aspirations which go out to the world of goodness, truth, and beauty. (Albert Schweitzer)
- When we look at the extent of cosmic time, our lives are as brief as fleas. The brevity of life should alert us to the purpose of our existence: to grow in compassion, kindness, love, and sensitivity. Time is short and there is so much to learn, to be, and to do. Impermanence frames the field of our growth. Focus on what is necessary and leave all else behind.
- The positive side of frustration and discontent is the beginning of discovering your dream. It is a sign that the deeper aspects of who you are need to find a vehicle to actualization in your life. Whether the frustration you feel is related to a talent you have that lacks an outlet, a vision you have of where you want to be, or some creative project you can't quite get started on, you have to listen to your discontent because it is. A gift we give ourselves gives us to move us forward in realizing our dream.
- Humor bonds us with others: it builds intimacy, trust, and a positive attitude.
- A sense of humor is one of the surest signs of balance and perspective in ordinary life - a sign that someone understands that life is meant to be enjoyed and that we can find something funny even in our deepest foibles, mistakes, and misfortunes.
- At the end of life, when someone has lived a life with consciousness and they look back on it, the questions are simple: "Did I live fully?" and, more than anything else, "Did I love well?" (Jack Kornfield)
- To live life with awareness is to live each moment with real sensitivity and receptivity to others, their sufferings and need. To live fully is to be aware of the opportunities to be compassionate and loving toward others. To love well is to love unselfishly and to strive to be ever more inclusive, extending one's care even to those with whom we would not ordinarily associate. It is to be spontaneously open and receptive to those we meet who may need us in some way.
- Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. (Martin Luther King, Jr.)
- To bring the four energies together in the moment - physical, intellectual, spiritual, and emotional - is the fundamental artistic act. This is where the joy arises. (Dick Richards)
- Just as a tree, a bush, or a flower cannot live without roots, we cannot live without being firmly established in our souls. The soul should also be nourished and cared for, just as a gardener nurtures the growth and well-being of his garden. Prayer, meditation, kindness, and love are ways to nourish the soul, the root of our being.
- Compassion for yourself translates into compassion for others. (Suki Jay Munsell)
- Every time we suffer, we grow. (Ram Dass)
- Suffering has a way of opening our hearts and putting us in touch with our compassionate nature. Suffering teaches us to love and to be kind, compassionate, and sensitive to the struggles of others. It is the greatest means of enlarging our perspective.
- Constantly rushing discourages authentic behavior. It is the opposite of compassion, kindness, love, and sensitiviyt, and more important, it is the enemy of being present, both to the moment and to others. To be truly present, we have to take our time, whether we are looking at the task at hand, which we can then do with good intention and efficiency, or listening to the people around us, who we can respond to authentically and appropriately. When we're in our hurried state, we are unable to attend to spiritual practice. Allow yourself to slow down and be present to others and to the miracle of the present moment.
- You always carry within yourself the very thing that you need for the fulfillment of your life purpose. (Malidoma Some)
- Each person has a mission, a work they must contribute to the whole. It appears vaguely at first, a nagging dissatisfaction or an inkling of desire for greater things, but within a disciplined inner journey, the process of becoming honest with ourselves, we can come to realize our life purpose.
- We cannot do great things, only little things with great love. (Mother Teresa)
- She knew that great opportunities are rare and that the little opportunities that come our way every day provide the occasions for us to grow in love by transcending ourselves.
- Your trials did not come to punish you, but to awaken you. (Paramahansa Yogananda)
- Challenges bring us to our sense about our lives. They can serve as vehicles of realization, helping us to understand why we are here and how necessary the spiritual journey is for us. They awaken us to the serious purpose of life and inspire us not to waste this opportunity on a halfhearted existence.
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