In a consumer society, contentment is a radical proposition.
Recognizing abundance rather than scarcity undermines an economy that thrives by creating unmet desires.
Gratitude cultivates an ethic of fullness.
Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants
Your mind has very little control over this world. It is neither omniscient nor omnipotent. It cannot control the weather and other natural forces. Nor can it control all people, places, and things around you. You have given your mind an impossible task by asking it to manipulate the world in order to fix your personal inner problems.
If you want to achieve a healthy state of being, stop asking your mind to do this. Just relieve your mind of the job of making sure that everyone and everything will be the way you need them to be so that you can feel better inside.
Michael A. Singer, The Untethered Soul
A bird gets up every morning and sings its song.
It does not wait to hear what other birds are singing, nor does it look to see if another bird is getting more notice. It knows its song innately and sings.
This is nature: knowing your own song
Michele Oka Doner, 1945 – American artist and author
The “light” is the capacity to reconcile your experience, your sorrow, with every day that dawns. It is that understanding, which is beyond significance, that allows you to live a life and embrace the disasters and sorrows and joys that are our common lot.
But it’s only with the recognition that there is a crack in everything. I think all other visions are doomed to irretrievable gloom. And whenever anyone asks us to accept a perfect solution, that should immediately alert us to the flaws in that presentation.
Leonard Cohen, in a commentary on his song Anthem
Do your work,
then step back
– the only path to peacefulness.
Lao-Tzu, Tao Te Ching
Yesterday, Irish people wished everyone a “Happy Saint Patrick’s Day” or if in the Irish language, “the blessings of Saint Patrick’s Day”. But what do these related terms “Happy” and “Blessed” mean?
By happiness I mean a deep sense of flourishing which comes from an exceptionally heathy mind
This is not a mere pleasurable feeling, a fleeting emotion or a mood, but an optimal state of being
Happiness is also a way of interpreting the world, since while it may be difficult to change the world, it is always possible to change the way we look at it.
Matthieu Ricard, Happiness
Mindfulbalance 