20 Quotes for a Mindful Day

Mindfulness in everyday life is the ultimate challenge and practice. It is a way of being, of seeing, of tapping into the full range of our humanity – often seen in playful children fully experiencing life in the here and now. Mindfulness is described by Jon Kabat-Zinn (1994) “as paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment and non-judgementally” (p.4).

20 Quotes for a Mindful Day

Following are 20 quotes that could inspire you to be more mindful in your day –

1. “Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh
2. “In today’s rush we all think too much – seek too much – want too much – and forget about the joy of just being.” ~ Eckhart Tolle
3. “The most fundamental aggression to ourselves, the most fundamental harm we can do to ourselves, is to remain ignorant by not having the courage and the respect to look at ourselves honestly and gently.” ~ Pema Chödrön
4. “We use mindfulness to observe the way we cling to pleasant experiences and push away unpleasant ones.” ~ Sharon Salzberg
5. “Feelings, whether of compassion or irritation, should be welcomed, recognized, and treated on an absolutely equal basis; because both are ourselves. The tangerine I am eating is me. The mustard greens I am planting are me. I plant with all my heart and mind. I clean this teapot with the kind of attention I would have were I giving the baby Buddha or Jesus a bath. Nothing should be treated more carefully than anything else. In mindfulness, compassion, irritation, mustard green plant, and teapot are all sacred.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh
6. “Mindfulness is simply being aware of what is happening right now without wishing it were different; enjoying the pleasant without holding on when it changes (which it will); being with the unpleasant without fearing it will always be this way (which it won’t).” ~ James Baraz
7. “If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.” ~ Dalai Lama
8. “There is no way to happiness, happiness is the way.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh
9. “If it isn’t good, let it die. If it doesn’t die, make it good.” ~ Ajahn Chah
10. “Hatred never ceases by hatred; it only ceases by love. This is a timeless truth” ~ Joseph Goldstein
11. “There is no enlightenment outside of daily life.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh
12. “Be happy in the moment, that’s enough. Each moment is all we need, not more.” ~ Mother Teresa
13. “Suffering usually relates to wanting things to be different from the way they are.” ~ Allan Lokos
14. “You might be tempted to avoid the messiness of daily living for the tranquility of stillness and peacefulness. This of course would be an attachment to stillness, and like any strong attachment, it leads to delusion. It arrests development and short-circuits the cultivation of wisdom.” ~ Jon Kabat-Zinn
15. “Mindfulness, also called wise attention, helps us see what we’re adding to our experiences, not only during meditation sessions but also elsewhere.” ~ Sharon Salzberg
16. “If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher.” ~ Pema Chödrön
17. “As soon as we wish to be happier, we are no longer happy.” ~ Walter Landor
18. “The habit of ignoring our present moments in favor of others yet to come leads directly to a pervasive lack of awareness of the web of life in which we are embedded. This includes a lack of awareness and understanding of our own mind and how it influences our perceptions and our actions. It severely limits our perspective on what it means to be a person and how we are connected to each other and the world around us. Religion has traditionally been the domain of such fundamental inquiries within a spiritual framework, but mindfulness has little to do with religion, except in the most fundamental meaning of the word, as an attempt to appreciate the deep mystery of being alive and to acknowledge being vitally connected to all that exists.” ~ Jon Kabat-Zinn
19. “If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.” ~ William Blake
20. “Our suffering stems from ignorance. We react because we do not know what we are doing, because we do not know the reality of ourselves. The mind spends most of the time lost in fantasies and illusions, reliving pleasant or unpleasant experiences and anticipating the future with eagerness or fear. While lost in such cravings or aversions, we are unaware of what is happening now, what we are doing now. Yet surely this moment, now, is the most important for us. We cannot live in the past; it is gone. Nor can we live in the future; it is forever beyond our grasp. We can live only in the present. If we are unaware of our present actions, we are condemned to repeating the mistakes of the past and can never succeed in attaining our dreams for the future. But if we can develop the ability to be aware of the present moment, we can use the past as a guide for ordering our actions in the future, so that we may attain our goal.” ~ S.N. Goenka

Which one of these mindful quotes was your favourite? Are there any other quotes on mindfulness that you like?

If so, feel free to share them below!

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Reference –

Kabat-Zinn, J. (1994). Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life. New York, USA: Hyperion.