Married to Bhutan Quotes

“There are all kinds of ignorance in the world. Education, learning to read and write, doesn't necessarily give us knowledge. We have to learn to use our minds to see what is really happening.”
― Linda Leaming, Married to Bhutan

“Bhutan does seem a bit unreal at times. Hardly anybody in the U.S. knows where it is. I have friends who still think the entire country is a figment of my imagination. When I was getting ready to move there, and I told people I was going to work in Bhutan, they'd inevitably ask, "Where's Butane?"

It is near Africa," I'd answer, to throw them off the trail. "It's where all the disposable lighters come from."

They'd nod in understanding.”
― Linda Leaming, Married to Bhutan

“If I had to name the biggest difference between Bhutan and the rest of the world, I could do it in one word, civility.”
― Linda Leaming, Married to Bhutan

“A man met the Buddha after the Buddha became enlightened. The man was awed by his remarkable radiance.
"What are you?" the man asked. "Are you some kind of celestial being? A god, perhaps?"
"No," said the Buddha.
"Well, then, are you a magician or wizard?"
"No," the Buddha answered again.
"Are you a man?"
"No."
"Well, then, what are you?"
"I am awake," the Buddha replied”
― Linda Leaming, Married to Bhutan

“I submit that comfort is a diversion, and it’s not related to happiness.”
― Linda Leaming, Married to Bhutan

“Just as Alice, when she walked through the looking glass, found herself in a new and whimsical world, so we, when we crossed over the Pa Chu, found ourselves as though caught up on some magic time machine fitted fantastically with a reverse...”
― Linda Leaming, Married to Bhutan

“You find things when you're looking hard for other things. The trick is to be awake- which, granted is harder than it seems.”
― Linda Leaming, Married to Bhutan

“The average Bhutanese knows much more about the world than the average American...(for Americans)It is more comfortable to watch fake news about celebrities than to know what's happening in China or southern Sudan. But events happening in China or Sudan affect us so much more because they are real.”
― Linda Leaming, Married to Bhutan

“He rarely wanted to own any of the stuff; he was happy just to look.”
― Linda Leaming, Married to Bhutan

“And it made me sad that in the U.S. we don’t mend things anymore. Mending and fixing broken things is deeply satisfying. More”
― Linda Leaming, Married to Bhutan

“I wondered what a traffic report from my commute during Bhutan’s morning rush hour would sound like, and laughed. The cow path is clean this morning. We’ve got Ap Khandu’s cows grazing by the fly-over, so it’s all clear to the Mushroom Centre with no cow patties. But you’ll want to watch the mud near the boys’ latrines—there could be some surprises—and be careful of that third rock as you make your hop over the brook. It’s a little bit wobbly this morning. You”
― Linda Leaming, Married to Bhutan

“There’s too much structure in the world: too much insurance, litigation, unfulfilling work, fighting; too many credit cards, receipts, forms, taxes, mortgages, traffic jams, obligations—and always enormous pressure and fear as a result. The”
― Linda Leaming, Married to Bhutan

“Acceptance is so much a part of being in love, and love can make a person exceptional”
― Linda Leaming, Married to Bhutan

“disconcerting.”
― Linda Leaming, Married to Bhutan

“We didn’t have a vacuum or dishwasher. When I told my mother we didn’t have a washing machine, it made her cry. What I didn’t tell her was that we didn’t have a washing machine because half the time we didn’t have running water, and we had to haul our water from outside in buckets. Bhutan,”
― Linda Leaming, Married to Bhutan

“He was stunned that almost every room in the house had a basket for trash tucked discreetly somewhere, lined with a white plastic bag, which was changed at intervals. In Bhutan, the few plastic bags we have are washed and hung out to dry and reused. Some of them have been around for years. He’d take the trash out to the big bins in my parents’ garage every day. But then reality hit and his face went dark. “Where does all this trash go?” he asked me. “To the dump,” I said. I could see he was doing the math: “Half the country must be the dump.” In Bhutan, we compost our vegetable waste and put plastic and paper waste into an ordinary-sized plastic garbage bin in our storeroom. Once every two or three months, when the bin is full, we drive it up to the dump about 20 minutes from our house. In the winter we use it to start fires in our woodstove. That is not to say that more waste isn’t coming to Bhutan. But Bhutan, and the rest of the world for that matter, has a long way to go to catch up with the United States. While”
― Linda Leaming, Married to Bhutan

“Namgay, who grew up in the mountains of the Himalayas herding cows and sheep and being instructed by his Uncle Lama in religious rituals, was a devout Buddhist and an artist of some renown. But in the U.S., he became a devotee of appliances and worshipped on the altar of mass consumption. He”
― Linda Leaming, Married to Bhutan

“The notion of choice also intrigued Namgay, since the limited number of items in any given shop in Thimphu precludes it. In a small shop in Thimphu you might find one tablecloth, one pair of underwear, and one pair of shoes that will fit you. Never mind that the shoes are a hideous green metallic: if the shoe fits, you must buy it— and wear it—even if it makes you look like a leprechaun.”
― Linda Leaming, Married to Bhutan

“Before we took the trip, he had never been on an elevator, eaten a hamburger, or enjoyed a chocolate milkshake. He’d never seen a vacuum cleaner, dishwasher, trash compactor, ATM, vending machine, car with automatic locks, or Western-style movie theater. He had never been to a shopping mall, ridden in a car on the Interstate, or traveled at over 40 miles an hour. He’d never seen a rodeo, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, or the Rubin Museum of Art in New York filled with Himalayan art, or drunk a single-malt scotch. Now he counts all of these marvels of Western culture as some of his favorite things.”
― Linda Leaming, Married to Bhutan

“As magical and strangely wonderful as I found Bhutan, so Namgay found the U.S. equally strange and wonderful.”
― Linda Leaming, Married to Bhutan

“In the U.S., we were both surprised by the excessive array of things in the stores, and by the large number of stores. Face it: we are over the top with stuff in America.”
― Linda Leaming, Married to Bhutan

“When you’re occupied every minute of the day, there’s simply no time for this kind of awareness.”
― Linda Leaming, Married to Bhutan

“the mental energy here, the level of awareness that comes from paying attention, from having less stuff around and having less on our calendars, is formidable. In”
― Linda Leaming, Married to Bhutan

“I have never been someone who likes rules or structure. I don't even like ruled notebook paper. There's too much structure in the world: too much insurance, litigation, unfulfilling work, fighting; too many credit cards, receipts, forms, taxes, mortgages, traffic jams, obligations and always enormous pressure and fear as a result.”
― Linda Leaming, Married to Bhutan