I jot down random tidbits from books that I read. Here are some things that caught my attention in 2012.
Power of Now – Eckhardt Tolle:
- Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have.
- All of these things you will have to relinquish sooner or later.
- To be identified with your mind is to be trapped in time : the compulsion to live almost exclusively through memory and anticipation. To be free of time is to be free of the psychological need of past for your identity and future for your fulfilment.
- The egoic mind has become like the sinking ship. If you don’t get off you will go down with it. The collective egoic mind is the most dangerously insane and destructive entity to inhabit this planet.
- Next time you say, “I have nothing in common with this person”, remember that you have a great deal in common. A few years from now … both of you will have become rotting corpses, then piles of dust, then nothing at all.
Hike Your Own Hike – Francis Tapon:
- The only difference between a rut and a grave is its dimensions – Ellen Glasgow
- We are here on earth to fart around. Don’t let anyone tell you any different – Kurt Vonnegut
- We are not truly free because we have chosen to believe that we need certain things to be happy. Once we upgrade we never want to go back. Even though we theoretically can go back, the pain and discomfort is monumental. In essence, whenever we upgrade we pass a point of no return. Therefore it is vital to think carefully through each upgrade, lest we risk either diminished freedom or increased anguish.
- Every dollar that you spend to increase your standard of living takes away a bit of your freedom.
- When you have worn out your shoes, the strength of the shoe leather has passed into the fiber of your body. He is the richest man who pays the largest debt to his shoemaker. – Emerson
- We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction – General Douglas MacArthur
- It is strange but those that think about their death everyday are some of the happiest people on the planet.
- A multi-month odyssey is an amazing experience, and should be carefully placed in the river of your life. These journeys are like high bridges along the river. They are parts where we get off the rapids, and observe the river of life from above. You will gain a unique perspective that is almost impossible to see in your everyday life.
- The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon but that we wait so long to begin it – William Lewis
- Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the things that you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in the sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. – Mark Twain
A Course in Miracles
- Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God.
- Peace is an attribute in you. You cannot find it outside.
- You may believe that you are only responsible for what you do, not what you think. The truth is that you are responsible for what you think, because it is only at this level that you can exercise choice. What you do comes from what you think.
Financial philosopher blog
- I love to go and see all the things I am happy without – Socrates
- As you walk and eat and travel, be where you are. Otherwise you will miss most of your life – Buddha
- Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not : remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for. – Epicurus
- Money often costs too much. – Emerson
- Slow down and the thing you are chasing will come around and catch you. – Zen saying
- The wise man knows that it is better to sit on the banks of a remote mountain stream than to be emperor of the whole world. – Zhuangzi
Other random quotes that had meaning for me:
- Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing to add but when there is nothing left to take away. – Antoine de St. Exupery
- First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win. – MK Gandhi
- The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts. – Bertrand Russell
- Because we cannot accept the truth of transience, we suffer. – Shunryn Suzuki
- Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to a better understanding of ourselves. – Carl Jung
- Never underestimate your power to change yourself; never overestimate your power to change others – Wayne Dyer
- There comes a time in your life when you have to let go of all the pointless drama and the people who create it and surround yourself with people who make you laugh so hard that you forget the bad and focus solely on the good. After all life is to short to be anything but happy. – The How of Happiness
- Don’t argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience. – Thoreau
- The cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run. – Thoreau
- I had three pieces of limestone on my desk, but I was terrified to find that they needed to be dusted daily, when the furniture of my mind was undusted still, and threw them out of the window in disgust. – Thoreau
- Everything is going to be fine in the end. If it is not fine, it is not the end. – Oscar Wilde
- The story of the human race is the story of men and women selling themselves short – Abraham Maslow
Some of my profound thoughts 🙂
- Expectations < Reality = Happiness (my original formula)
- Happiness = What you have/ What you want. Work on the denominator (my second original formula)
- Rising above or falling below thoughts leads to peace. Rising above is sustainable i.e. meditation. Falling below (distraction/drugs) is not and leads to consequences.
- Pain is physiologic. Suffering is not. Suffering is optional!
- Experience with all your senses (not just vision) when you go for a walk. This slows down time. This allows you to be in the moment.