Mindfulness Quotes

“Whatever has the nature to arise has the nature to cease.”
― Joseph Goldstein, Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening

“The greatest communication is usually how we are rather than what we say.”
― Joseph Goldstein, Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening

“One of the great misconceptions we often carry throughout our lives is that our perceptions of ourselves and the world are basically accurate and true, that they reflect some stable, ultimate reality. This misconception leads to tremendous suffering, both globally and in our personal life situations.”
― Joseph Goldstein, Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening

“What you are looking for is what is looking.”
― Joseph Goldstein, Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening

“We can then see for ourselves the obvious truth that when we cling or hold on to that which changes, we suffer.”
― Joseph Goldstein, Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening

“Without the steadiness of concentration, it is easy to get caught up in the feelings, perceptions, and thoughts as they arise. We take them to be self and get carried away by trains of association and reactivity.”
― Joseph Goldstein, Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening

“one of the most radical, far-reaching, and challenging statements of the Buddha is his statement that as long as there is attachment to the pleasant and aversion to the unpleasant, liberation is impossible.”
― Joseph Goldstein, Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening

“Hatred never ceases by hatred; it only ceases by love.”
― Joseph Goldstein, Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening

“Aspirations inspire us, while expectations simply lead us into cycles of hope and fear: hope that what we want will happen; fear that it won’t.”
― Joseph Goldstein, Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening

“Finally, my mind just settled into the realization that accidents happen, and a mantra suddenly appeared in my mind, one that has served me well since: anything can happen anytime.”
― Joseph Goldstein, Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening

“Why be unhappy about something if it can be remedied? And what is the use of being unhappy about something if it cannot be remedied?”
― Joseph Goldstein, Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening

“All things arise when the appropriate conditions are present, and all things pass away as conditions change. Behind the process, there is no “self” who is running the show.”
― Joseph Goldstein, Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening

“whatever we frequently think of and ponder, that will become the inclination of our minds.”
― Joseph Goldstein, Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening

“When we see deeply that all that is subject to arising is also subject to cessation, that whatever arises will also pass away, the mind becomes disenchanted. Becoming disenchanted, one becomes dispassionate. And through dispassion, the mind is liberated.”
― Joseph Goldstein, Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening

“We can also strengthen the quality of ardor by reflecting on the transiency of all phenomena. Look at all the things we become attached to, whether they are people or possessions or feelings or conditions of the body. Nothing we have, no one in our lives, no state of mind is exempt from change. Nothing at all can prevent the universal process of birth, growth, decay, and death.”
― Joseph Goldstein, Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening

“Distortion of view takes place when we hold so deeply to our viewpoint that not even known facts can sway our beliefs.”
― Joseph Goldstein, Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening

“Consciousness is not a thing that exists, but an event that occurs.”
― Joseph Goldstein, Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening

“This attachment to the body also deeply conditions our fear of death. The more we cling, the harder it is to let go.”
― Joseph Goldstein, Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening

“Because these moods and mind states are so amorphous and generalized, we often sink into them and become identified with them, and they become the unconscious filter on experience. At these times, we’re looking at the world through colored glasses.”
― Joseph Goldstein, Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening

“How does feeling our breath or taking a mindful step help anyone else? It happens in several ways. The more we understand our own minds, the more we understand everyone else. We increasingly feel the commonality of our human condition, of what creates suffering and how we can be free. Our practice also benefits others through the transformation of how we are in the world. If we’re more accepting, more peaceful, less judgmental, less selfish, then the whole world is that much more loving and peaceful, that much less judgmental and selfish.”
― Joseph Goldstein, Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening

“It’s always helpful to have a sense of humor about one’s own mental foibles. By”
― Joseph Goldstein, Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening

“If you tell the truth you don’t have to remember anything.”
― Joseph Goldstein, Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening

“All beings are the heirs of their own karma. Their happiness or unhappiness depends on their actions, not upon my wishes.”
― Joseph Goldstein, Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening

“Where is the end of seeing, of hearing, of thinking, of knowing?”
― Joseph Goldstein, Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening

“The mind does not belong to you, but you are responsible for it.”
― Joseph Goldstein, Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening

“Receiving joy is another way to say enjoyment, and samādhi is the act of refined enjoyment. It is based in skillfulness. It is the careful collecting of oneself into the joy of the present moment. Joyfulness means there’s no fear, no tension, no “ought to.” There isn’t anything we have to do about it. It’s just this.1”
― Joseph Goldstein, Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening

“On a boat in the middle of a great storm, one wise, calm person can bring everyone to safety. The”
― Joseph Goldstein, Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening

“It is the truth that liberates, not your efforts to be free.”
― Joseph Goldstein, Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening

“As a solid mass of rock Is not moved by the wind, So a sage is not moved by praise and blame.”
― Joseph Goldstein, Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening

“When we have too much faith, we can become dogmatic, attached to our own views. And we can see all too often how this blind belief leads to so much conflict and suffering in the world.”
― Joseph Goldstein, Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening