The photogram of “NOW”/ Part 1
All learning has an emotional base.
Decision is the ultimate power. Decisions shape destiny.
Transformation isn’t a future event. It’s a present day activity.
Learn from the past, set vivid, detailed goals for the future, and live in the only moment of time over which you have any control: now.
This present moment, since it knows neither past nor future, is itself timeless, and that which is timeless is Eternal. Thus “the eternal life belongs to those who live in the present.
When prayer removes distrust and doubt and enters the field of mental certainty, it becomes faith; and the universe is built on faith.
The highest goal of spirituality is Self-realization, but what does that mean? It means to feel your Self as a living reality in this moment, and there is always only this moment.
Perpetual emotion is the past time of the undisciplined mind.
I am in the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing.
When you bring your full attention to each moment, a day is a complete lifetime of living and learning.
All of life’s experiences are teachers in some sense, challenging us to grow and evolve.
All I have is all I need and all I need is all I have in this moment.
Habits of thinking need not be forever. One of the most significant findings in psychology in the last twenty years is that individuals choose the way they think.
At the heart of each of us, whatever our imperfections, there exists a silent pulse of perfect rhythm, made up of wave forms and resonances, which is absolutely individual and unique, and yet which connects us to everything in the universe. The act of getting in touch with this pulse can transform our personal experience and in some way alter the world around us.
The combination of rumination and negative mood is toxic. Research shows that people who ruminate while sad or distraught are likely to feel besieged, powerless, self-critical, pessimistic, and generally negatively biased.
We also discover that much of our most potent creative energy arises from the flames of past injustices and inhibited creative efforts.
People who suffer from learned helplessness think they have no control over their situations, so even if their suffering is great, they won’t take the smallest action to change matters because they figure, What’s the point?
Eternity isn't some later time. Eternity isn't a long time. Eternity has nothing to do with time. Eternity is that dimension of here and now which thinking and time cuts out. This is it. And if you don't get it here, you won't get it anywhere. And the experience of eternity right here and now is the function of life.
Everyone at a high level has a huge amount of chess understanding, and much of what separates the great from the very good is deep presence, relaxation of the conscious mind, which allows the unconscious to flow unhindered.
How we pay attention to the present moment largely determines the character of our experience and, therefore, the quality of our lives. Mystics and contemplatives have made this claim for ages—but a growing body of scientific research now bears it out.
...the only thing each of us lives and loses is the present.
In the first place, sensation (aisthesis) is a corporeal process which we have in common with animals, and in which the impression of an exterior object is transmitted to the soul. By means of this process, an image (phantasia) of the object is produced in the soul, or more precisely in the guiding part (hegemonikon) of the soul.
Life is now in session. Are you present?
But life is very short and anxious for those who forget the past, neglect the present, and fear the future.
Learn From Yesterday, Live for Today, hope for tomorrow.
The best way to capture moments is to pay attention. This is how we cultivate mindfulness. Mindfulness means being awake. It means knowing what you are doing.
Eternity has nothing to do with time. Time is what shuts you out from eternity. Eternity is now. It is the transcendent dimension of the now to which myth refers.
But the easiest way to live in the moment is to put yourself in a situation where there’s no other choice.
Life consists only of moments, nothing more than that. So if you make the moment matter, it all matters.
What are you ruminating on? Old suffering?
Don’t agonize over the past, because the past is gone. Don’t worry about the future, because the future is not yet here.
Here's a good phrase for you to jot down: wherever you are, be there! Be there to absorb it. Take a picture if you can. Take pictures in your mind; let your soul and heart take pictures. Get it, capture it, absorb it. And don't be casual in getting it. Casualness leads to casualties.
We have to become still in the midst of the turmoil so we can observe clearly how our actions and the actions of others, past and present, fit together in the tapestry of life. In the timeless instant when we stop moving and simply witness the moment, the dust settles and the big picture emerges.