Neither planning ahead nor reminiscing about the past need obscure the clarity of our present awareness.
The Buddha would say “If you are planning ahead, just plan ahead. If you’re remembering, just remember”
We can look forward or back without fretting or obsessing, or allowing concerns about the future to constrict freedom in the present.
Think about it: even contemplating the future or the past is a function of present awareness
Lama Surya Das, Buddha Standard Time
When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light in your life, for your strength.
Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living.
If you see no reason to give thanks, the fault is in yourself.
Chief Tecumseh, Leader of the Shawnee, 1768 -1813
It is very simple to be happy,
but it is very difficult to be simple.
Rabindranath Tagore
To live is the rarest thing in the world.
Most people exist, that is all.
Oscar Wilde
What if the path to happiness is not
bringing order into the mess of our lives
but instead relaxing amid the mess
and rejoicing in its aliveness and beauty
Haemin Sunim, Korean Zen Buddhist Teacher, When Things Don’t go your Way
This is a real discipline. It requires choosing for the light even when there is much darkness to frighten me, choosing for life even when the forces of death are so visible, and choosing for the truth even when I am surrounded with lies.
The reward of choosing joy is joy itself. Living among people with mental disabilities has convinced me of that. There is so much rejection, pain, and woundedness among us, but once you choose to claim the joy hidden in the midst of all suffering, life becomes celebration. Joy never denies the sadness, but transforms it to a fertile soil for more joy.
Henri Nouwen, The Return of the Prodigal Son
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