Home > All Quotes > Living in Harmony > Living Mindfully Each Day
These quotes are part of the compilation Living in Harmony. Sections include: Foundation Building (Developing a Spiritual Life, Living Fully in Our Bodies, Inviting Nature into Our Lives), Mindful Living (Living Mindfully Each Day, Blooming into Ourselves, Simplifying, Living Out Our Inner Vision, Living Out Our Global Vision) and Living in Community.
May you live all the days of your life. Jonathan Swift
Waking up this morning, I smile,
Twenty four brand new hours are before me.
I vow to live fully in each moment
and to look at all beings with eyes of compassion. Thich Nhat Hanh
It's only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth - and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up - that we will begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it was the only one we had. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
Begin at once to live, and count each separate day as a separate life. Seneca
One can make a day of any size, and regulate the rising and setting of his own sun and the brightness of its shining. John Muir
Today, like every other day, we wake up empty and frightened.
Don't open the door to the study and begin reading.
Take down a musical instrument. Rumi
Let us spend one day as deliberately as Nature, and not be thrown off track by every nutshell and mosquito's wing that falls on the rails. Let us rise early and fast, or break fast, gently and without perturbation; let company come and let company go, let the bells ring and the children cry,--determine to make a day of it. Henry David Thoreau
I wish that life should not be cheap, but sacred. I wish the days to be as centuries, loaded, fragrant. Ralph Waldo Emerson
I got up early and bathed in the pond; that was a religious exercise, and one of the best things which I did. They say that characters were engraven on the bathing tub of King Tching-thang to this effect: "Renew thyself completely each day; do it again, and again, and forever again." Henry David Thoreau
Try dying every day to your old self . . . So that you emerge renewed and young again as the tired mind sheds its load . . . Kristin Zambucka
Each morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most. Buddha
...There is no better means of attainment to the spiritual life
Than by continually beginning again... Saint Francis de Sales
Finish every day and be done with it.
You have done what you could.
Some blunders and absurdities, no doubt, crept in.
Forget them as soon as you can,
tomorrow is a new day;
begin it well and serenely,
with too high a spirit to be cumbered
with your old nonsense. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Today is the first day of the rest of your life. American Proverb
Savoring Every Moment
The passing moment is all that we can be sure of; it is only common sense to extract its utmost value from it... W. Somerset Maugham
Always hold fast to the present. Every situation, indeed every moment, is of infinite value, for it is the representative of a whole eternity. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Slow down and enjoy life. It's not only the scenery you miss by going too fast - you also miss the sense of where you are going and why. Eddie Cantor
Why do so many of us not give ourselves permission to be alive until we are absolutely assured that we will die? ...If we are not in [this present millisecond of life and conscious experience], we are not alive; we are merely thinking our lives. Yet we have seen so many die, looking back over their shoulders at their lives, shaking their heads and muttering in bewilderment, "What was that all about?" Stephen Levine
As you walk and eat and travel, be where you are. Otherwise you will miss most of your life. Buddha
The way to live in the present is to remember that "This too shall pass." When you experience joy, remembering that "This too shall pass" helps you savor the here and now. When you experience pain and sorrow, remembering that "This too shall pass" reminds you that grief, like joy, is only temporary. Joey Green
Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. Melody Beattie
If you concentrate on finding whatever is good in every situation, you will discover that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude, a feeling that nurtures the soul. Rabbi Harold Kushner
I am grateful for what I am and have. My thanksgiving is perpetual. It is surprising how contented one can be with nothing definite - only a sense of existence. My breath is sweet to me. O how I laugh when I think of my vague indefinite riches. No run on my bank can drain it, for my wealth is not possession but enjoyment. Henry David Thoreau
Be content with what you have;
Rejoice in the way things are.
When you realize there is nothing
lacking,
The whole world belongs to you. Lao Tzu
There's only one reason why you're not experiencing bliss at this present moment, and it's because you're thinking or focusing on what you don't have....But, right now you have everything you need to be in bliss. Anthony de Mello
Dorothy tries to sum it all up before leaving Oz. "It's that if ever I go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own backyard," she tells Glinda, the Good Witch of the North. "Because if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with. Is that it?"
"That's all it is," confirms Glinda. Joey Green, quoting from Wizard of Oz
Human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives. William James
Do not think that what your thoughts dwell upon is of no matter. Your thoughts are making you. Bishop Steere
A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts. James Allen
Our own worst enemy cannot harm us as much as our unwise thoughts. No one can help us as much as our own compassionate thoughts. Buddha
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things. The Bible
Why should we think upon things that are lovely? Because thinking determines life. It is a common habit to blame life upon the environment. Environment modifies life but does not govern life. The soul is stronger than its surroundings. William James
The things we think about, brood on, dwell on, and exult over influence our life in a thousand ways. When we can actually choose the direction of our thoughts instead of just letting them run along the grooves of conditioned thinking, we become the masters of our own lives. Eknath Easwaran
People attain worth and dignity by the multitude of decisions they make from day to day. Rollo May
We are all sculptors and painters, and our material is our own flesh and blood and bones. Any nobleness begins at once to refine a man's features, any meanness or sensuality to imbrute them. Henry David Thoreau
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. Aristotle
A man passes for that he is worth. What he is engraves itself on his face, on his form, on his fortunes, in letters of light. Concealment avails him nothing; boasting nothing. There is confession in the glances of our eyes; in our smiles; in salutations; and the grasp of hands. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Men do not attract that which they want, but that which they are. James Allen
How we spend our days is of course how we spend our lives. Anne Dillard
