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You can never step in the same water twice, my friend. Like flowing water, life is perpetual movement.
All in all, the goal of my planning and doing is to find the true meaning in life — peace of mind. In order to achieve this peace of mind, the teaching of detachment of Taoism and Zen proved to be valuable.
“A man is literally what he thinks.”
We realize that manipulation and control are not the ultimate joy of life — to become real, to learn to take a stand, to develop one’s center, to the support of our total personality, a release to spontaneity — yes, yes, yes!
Life is an ever-flowing process and somewhere on the path some unpleasant things will pop up — it might leave a scar, but then life is flowing, and like running water, when it stops it grows stale.
Be pliable. When a man is living, he is soft and pliable; when he is dead, he becomes rigid.
Life is something for which there is no answer; it must be understood from moment to moment — the answer we find inevitably conforms to the pattern of what we think we know.
The primary reality is not what I think, but that I live,
My friend, do think of the past in terms of those memories of events and accomplishments which were pleasant, rewarding, and satisfying. The present? Well, think of it in terms of challenges and opportunities, and the rewards available for the application of your talents and energies. As for the future, that is a time and a place where every worthy ambition you possess is within your grasp.
To spend time is to pass it in a specified manner. To waste time is to expend it thoughtlessly or carelessly. We all have time to either spend or waste, and it is our decision what to do with it. But once passed, it is gone forever.
If you love life, don’t waste time, for time is what life is made up of.
Concentration is the ROOT of all the higher abilities in man.
It is futile to argue as to which single leaf, which design of branch, or which attractive flower you like; when you understand the root, you understand all its blossoming.
We are always in a process of becoming and NOTHING is fixed. Have no rigid system in you, and you’ll be flexible to change with the ever changing. OPEN yourself and flow, my friend. Flow in the TOTAL OPENESS OF THE LIVING MOMENT. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves. Moving, be like water. Still, be like a mirror. Respond like an echo.
You can never invite the wind, but you must leave the window open.
When you are in the NOW, you can’t be anxious, because the excitement flows immediately into ongoing spontaneous activity.
To understand and live now, there must be dying to everything of yesterday. Die continually to every newly gained experience—be
