Inspirational Single Sentences

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BioSattva
Posts: 324
Location: Beijing, China

Tue Apr 30, 2013 11:10 am  

I just found this quote while surfing around and thought it would be great to share it and start a thread dedicated to such quotes. So here goes number one:

"If you are irritated by every rub, how will you be polished?" - Rumi (1207-1273), Persian poet, jurist, theologian, and Sufi mystic.


Feel free to share any of your favourites here.
"Compassion – particularly for yourself – is of overwhelming importance." - Mark Williams, Mindfulness (2011), p117.
"...allow yourself to smile inwardly." - Jon Kabat-Zinn, Full Catastrophe Living (2005), p436.
Weekly Blog: http://mindfuldiscipline.blogspot.co.uk

JonW
Team Member
Posts: 2897
Practice Mindfulness Since: 08 Dec 2012
Location: In a field, somewhere

Tue Apr 30, 2013 11:57 am  

My grandmother was fond of saying, "Never try cleaning your windows with a hard-boiled egg."

I used to think that it was a sign that she was slightly bonkers. Recently I've been wondering if she meant it in a Zen way.
Jon leads the Everyday Mindfulness group meditation on Zoom every Monday/Friday, 6pm London-time. FREE.
Follow this link to join the WhatsApp group and receive notifications: https://chat.whatsapp.com/K5j5deTvIHVD7z71H3RIIk

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BioSattva
Posts: 324
Location: Beijing, China

Tue Apr 30, 2013 12:53 pm  

JonW wrote:My grandmother was fond of saying, "Never try cleaning your windows with a hard-boiled egg."

I used to think that it was a sign that she was slightly bonkers. Recently I've been wondering if she meant it in a Zen way.

Heh, maybe it was along the lines of 'hard boiled eggs are useful, but only in certain contexts' - there are no conceptual universal truths. Sounds pretty 'zen' to me :ugeek: .
"Compassion – particularly for yourself – is of overwhelming importance." - Mark Williams, Mindfulness (2011), p117.
"...allow yourself to smile inwardly." - Jon Kabat-Zinn, Full Catastrophe Living (2005), p436.
Weekly Blog: http://mindfuldiscipline.blogspot.co.uk

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Gareth
Site Admin
Posts: 1465

Tue Apr 30, 2013 8:29 pm  

Fiona is taking over the Twitter account while I am away next (I'm practising letting go). Some nice Mindfulness quotes will help her to put out on the Twitter feed. There are so many followers on there now that anything half-decent gets loads of retweets and therefore more followers. This tweet has got the record number of retweets so far at 156:

Learn from the past. Plan for the future. Live in the present. #mindfulness


There's a 140 character limit, see who can get the most retweets while I'm away.

JonW
Team Member
Posts: 2897
Practice Mindfulness Since: 08 Dec 2012
Location: In a field, somewhere

Tue Apr 30, 2013 9:52 pm  

Another thing my nan taught me was that the fly is the world's smallest bird. I actually believed that to be true until I was twelve, when a biology teacher put me right on it.
Jon leads the Everyday Mindfulness group meditation on Zoom every Monday/Friday, 6pm London-time. FREE.
Follow this link to join the WhatsApp group and receive notifications: https://chat.whatsapp.com/K5j5deTvIHVD7z71H3RIIk

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piedwagtail91
Posts: 613
Practice Mindfulness Since: 0- 3-2011
Location: Lancashire witch country

Tue Apr 30, 2013 10:29 pm  

when i did my mindfulness course my therapist said one day "you don't have to like it, you just have to do it". don't know where it came from but i still apply it to situations now.

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BioSattva
Posts: 324
Location: Beijing, China

Wed May 01, 2013 6:45 am  

piedwagtail91 wrote:when i did my mindfulness course my therapist said one day "you don't have to like it, you just have to do it". don't know where it came from but i still apply it to situations now.

It's funny you posted this one, because I was considering doing the same, although I thought it's best to keep the direct mindfulness stuff elsewhere so I didn't. I think this is a JKZ phrase, actually. I used it to great effect during a very challenging standing 'taichi' posture exercise today for 70 minutes. Also the following phrase gave me increased focus so that I could accept the necessary pain more easily:

"Practice as if your life depended on it, as in many ways it surely does." - Mark Williams/Jon Kabat-Zinn.
"Compassion – particularly for yourself – is of overwhelming importance." - Mark Williams, Mindfulness (2011), p117.
"...allow yourself to smile inwardly." - Jon Kabat-Zinn, Full Catastrophe Living (2005), p436.
Weekly Blog: http://mindfuldiscipline.blogspot.co.uk

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piedwagtail91
Posts: 613
Practice Mindfulness Since: 0- 3-2011
Location: Lancashire witch country

Wed May 01, 2013 8:49 am  

it wouldn't surprise me if she's 'borrowed' it from JKZ :D

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FeeHutch
Posts: 1010
Practice Mindfulness Since: 01 Mar 2012
Location: Steel City
Contact:

Wed May 01, 2013 3:12 pm  

These are great guys, hopefully this thread will give me plenty of stuff to use on Twitter :D
“Being mindful means that we take in the present moment as it is rather than as we would like it to be.”
Mark Williams

http://adlibbed.blogspot.co.uk/p/mindfulness-me-enjoy-silence.html
Find me on twitter - @feehutch

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Gareth
Site Admin
Posts: 1465

Wed May 01, 2013 5:14 pm  

It's definitely Jon Kabat-Zinn.

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