The photogram of “NOW”/ Part 1

Plato - Athenian philosopher

All learning has an emotional base.

Tony Robbins - American author, coach, motivational speaker, and philanthropist

Decision is the ultimate power. Decisions shape destiny.

Jillian Michaels - American personal trainer, businesswoman, author and television personality

Transformation isn’t a future event. It’s a present day activity.

Denis Waitley - American motivational speaker, writer and consultant

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.

Ken Wilber - American philosopher and writer on transpersonal psychology and his own integral theory, a systematic philosophy which suggests the synthesis of all human knowledge and experience.

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. 

Ernest Holmes - American New Thought writer, teacher, and leader

When prayer removes distrust and doubt and enters the field of mental certainty, it becomes faith; and the universe is built on faith.

Gay Hendricks - Psychologist, writer, and teacher in the field of personal growth, relationships, and body intelligence

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.

Ervin Seale - Speaker and writer in New Thought era

Perpetual emotion is the past time of the undisciplined mind.

Louise Lynn Hay - American motivational author and the founder of Hay House

I am in the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing.

Mark Divine - Creator and founder of SEALFIT and The Unbeatable Mind Academy

When you bring your full attention to each moment, a day is a complete lifetime of living and learning.

David Emerald Womeldorff - Celebrated creator of leadership frameworks proven to powerfully boost teamwork and productivity

All of life’s experiences are teachers in some sense, challenging us to grow and evolve.

Byron Katie - American speaker and author

All I have is all I need and all I need is all I have in this moment.

Martin Elias Pete Seligman - American psychologist, educator, and author of self-help books. Seligman is a strong promoter within the scientific community of his theories of positive psychology and of well-being

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.

George Burr Leonard - American writer, editor, and educator who wrote extensively about education and human potential

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.

Sonja Lyubomirsky - American professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Riverside and author of the bestseller The How of Happiness

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.

Mary-Elaine Jacobsen - Former Chief Psychologist for the Amherst Wilder Foundation, a highly-regarded organization with programs for behavior-disordered children, therapeutic foster care, home and school counseling, and child psychiatry

We also discover that much of our most potent creative energy arises from the flames of past injustices and inhibited creative efforts. 

Alberto Villoldo - Cuban-born psychologist, medical anthropologist and author, writing primarily in the field of neo-shamanism

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?

Joseph Campbell - American professor of literature at Sarah Lawrence College who worked in comparative mythology and comparative religion

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.

Josh Waitzkin - American chess player, martial arts competitor, and author. As a child, he was recognized as a prodigy, and won the U.S. Junior Chess championship in 1993 and 1994. The film Searching for Bobby Fischer is based on his early 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.

Sam Harris - American author, philosopher, neuroscientist, and podcast host. His work touches on a wide range of topics, including rationality, religion, ethics, free will, neuroscience, meditation, psychedelics, philosophy of mind, politics, terrorism, and artificial intelligence

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.

Pierre Hadot - French philosopher and historian of philosophy specializing in ancient philosophy, particularly Neoplatonism

...the only thing each of us lives and loses is the present.

Pierre Hadot - French philosopher and historian of philosophy specializing in ancient philosophy, particularly Neoplatonism

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.

John C. Maxwell - American author, speaker, and pastor who has written many books, primarily focusing on leadership

Life is now in session. Are you present?

Lucius Annaeus Seneca - Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, dramatist, and in one work, satirist, from the post-Augustan age of Latin literature. Seneca was born in Cordoba in Hispania, and raised in Rome, where he was trained in rhetoric and philosophy

But life is very short and anxious for those who forget the past, neglect the present, and fear the future.

Orison Swett Marden - American inspirational author who wrote about achieving success in life and founded SUCCESS magazine in 1897

Learn From Yesterday, Live for Today, hope for tomorrow.

Jon Kabat-Zinn - American professor emeritus of medicine and the creator of the Stress Reduction Clinic and the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School

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.

Joseph Campbell - American professor of literature at Sarah Lawrence College who worked in comparative mythology and comparative religion. His work covers many aspects of the human experience

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.

Steven Kotler - American author, journalist, and entrepreneur. His articles have appeared in over 70 publications, including The New York Times Magazine, LA Times, Wired, Time magazine, GQ, Discover, Popular Science, Outside, Men’s Journal, Details and National Geographic Adventure

But the easiest way to live in the moment is to put yourself in a situation where there’s no other choice.

Ellen J. Langer - American professor of psychology at Harvard University; in 1981, she became the first woman ever to be tenured in psychology at Harvard impossible possible

Life consists only of moments, nothing more than that. So if you make the moment matter, it all matters. 

Thích Nhất Hạnh - Vietnamese Thiền Buddhist monk, peace activist, and founder of the Plum Village Tradition, historically recognized as the main inspiration for engaged Buddhism

What are you ruminating on? Old suffering?

Thích Nhất Hạnh - Vietnamese Thiền Buddhist monk, peace activist, and founder of the Plum Village Tradition, historically recognized as the main inspiration for engaged Buddhism

Don’t agonize over the past, because the past is gone. Don’t worry about the future, because the future is not yet here.

Jim Rohn - American entrepreneur, author and motivational speaker

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. 

Alberto Villoldo - Medical anthropologist and best-selling author who has studied the shamanic healing practices of the Amazon and Andes for over 30 years. He is the founder of the Four Winds Society, and his most recent book is The Heart of the Shaman: Stories and Practices of the Luminous Warrior

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.