“All the arts we practice are apprenticeship. The big art is our own life.” M.C. Richards
“An unexamined life is not worth living.” Socrates
“We must never hope to perceive or understand anything fully.” David Baird
“To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong.” Joseph Chilton Pearce
“Happiness is wanting what we already have.” Buddhist philosophy
“Happiness is an inside job. Do not seek it without.” Buddhist philosophy
“Very happy people differ markedly from average people in one principal way: a rich and fulfilling social life.” Martin Seligman
Be yourself. Reveal your unique personality to people without restraint. Be proud of who you have chosen to be. Don’t try to be everything to everyone.
“Love people by wishing them to be happy, not by requiring them to make us happy.” Kadampa Buddhism
“People in the west are always getting ready to live.” Chinese Proverb
Live life now. Don’t give up the present in exchange for an imaginary future.
“There is no such thing as truth. There is only perception.” Gustave Flaubert
“Satisfaction of one’s curiosity is one of the greatest sources of happiness in life.” Linus Pauling
“Humility makes us see rightly; pride and arrogance blind us to see the way we would like to see.” Swami Amar Jyoti
Love others for simply being able to maintain positive emotions and exchanges of energy in such a harsh, relentless world of challenges. Everyone is doing the best they can to be happy and remain free from suffering.
“When somebody actually listens to us, it creates us, it makes us unfold and expand, and ideas actually begin to grow within us and come to life.” David Baird
“Accept there will always be pain and challenges in a noble life. Pain is an undeniable sign of growth.” Unknown
Accept that we will always have some emotional baggage present in our life no matter how good every other factor may be at any particular point.
“We are quick to realize what people do not do right. But we rarely recognize what they do right.” Geshe Kelsang Gyatso
“Those closest to us will hurt us from time to time, as we will hurt them. Make apologies well in advance.” Unknown
“Forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Jesus
“Develop interest in life as you see it; in people, things, literature, music – the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people. Forget yourself.” Henry Miller
Get out of your head and enjoy the abundance of beauty all around you.
“Have much, be confused.” Lao Tzu
Always try to keep your thoughts positive. Acknowledge the fact that what we hold in our mind manifests itself more frequently into our physical reality.
We must learn to generate bliss within ourselves through the use of our imagination or through reflection on past experiences. We must not require specific physical causes to generate specific positive feelings.
Tantra – “to free ourselves from the attachment of external pleasures by empowering ourselves to generate bliss through our own mind.” Kadampa Buddhism
Tantra – “to bring more bliss into all of our life experiences through our own mind – to add fuel to the fire of ordinary experiences.” Kadampa Buddhism
If we can’t generate a feeling of love towards someone, we must at least feel compassion for them and treat them with love. Everyone deserves compassion for simply being able to sustain their lives in this harsh, unjust world full of relentless challenges.
“The love you make is equal to the love you take.” John Lennon
Always be aware that many unperceivable forces and unknown variables govern people’s choices. We must never let ourselves jump to conclusions or judgments based on our limited ability to fully understand or perceive. Instead, we must remain open to an infinite amount of possibilities that may be influencing a choice made by another.
Focus more on loving than on being loved. Instead of asking “what can I do to get people to care about me,” ask “what can I do to show I care about others.”
“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” Mohandas Gandhi
“Television is the opiate of the masses.” Unknown
“Repetitive rhythmical movement was thought essential to build up the moment of ecstatic union with the deity.” Erowid.org
Use ecstatic dance as a source for healing. Dance to connect to the source.
“As individuals it’ easy to put limitations on others and expect that they abide by them. However, we should remember that we were all blessed with the freedom of choice and that such limitations will only end up placing the very same boundaries on our own life.”
“In applying standards and criteria to others, we create these very same standards and criteria on ourselves in our own subconscious, which then applies to us.” Dr. Murphy
“Those who are free from resentful thoughts surely find peace.” Buddha
“There is nothing permanent except change.” Heraclitus
“Grant me the power to accept the things I cannot change, change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” Reinhold Niebuhr
We must begin to live our lives “in the flow.” Don’t let ourselves get stuck in a constant state of anxiety, a constant state of “what’s next.”
Always remain open and proactive to random interactions with people we do not know. Break the ego open, and give up control of how others perceive you.
“We think everything is important because it is important to us. We think we are the center of the universe. Everyone else disagrees.” Geshe Kelsang Gyatso
Every individual viewpoint and perspective is paradoxical, both right and wrong at the same time. There are always too many angles to perceive something from. It takes a wide range of perspectives and viewpoints to begin to really understand something. Thus, a plurality of perspectives and viewpoints must be sought out before one can feel justified in firmly believing a certain belief and/or idea.
Much spiritual growth can be found through dialogue with others from all walks of life. Understanding people’s unique viewpoints help to bring our own viewpoints into balance. The more holistic and integral are viewpoints are, the more real our life becomes.
Followers
