The Present

• “Grateful and awake, ask what you need to know now. Say what you feel now. Love what you love now.” The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have (Gift Edition) (Mark Nepo) -Kindle Loc. 156-57  (Life, Moments)
• “We Can Change Our Attitude Toward the Past.  The past is over and done. We cannot change that now. Yet we can change our thoughts about the past. How foolish for us to PUNISH OURSELVES in the present moment because someone hurt us in the long-ago past.” You Can Heal Your Life (Louise Hay)- Page 7
• “What was done in the past is done, and it is over now. But this is present time, and you now have the opportunity to treat yourself the way you wish to be treated.”  You Can Heal Your Life (Louise Hay) Page 61
• “Even when we lament about the past, we are experiencing our memory of it at this moment, and losing the real experience of this moment in the process.” You Can Heal Your Life (Louise Hay) Page 69
• “The word “mindfulness” has become so diluted in recent years that it’s lost much of its original meaning. It comes from the Sanskrit word smriti, which means “remember.” “Mindfulness is remembering to come back to the present moment,” writes Zen teacher Thich Nhat Hanh. This is an ongoing process that is not limited to the act of meditation itself. “Sitting and watching our breath is a wonderful practice, but it is not enough,” he adds. “For transformation to take place, we have to practice mindfulness all day long, not just on our meditation cushion.” Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success.  Phil Jackson and Hugh Delehanty. Page 137
• “Because most of us—basketball players included—spend so much time bouncing back and forth between thoughts of the past and the future that we lose touch with what’s happening right here, right now. And that prevents us from appreciating the deep mystery of being alive. As Kabat-Zinn writes in Wherever You Go, There You Are, “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.”” Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success. Phil Jackson and Hugh Delehanty. Page 137
• “Everything changes.” Those words, Suzuki said, contain the basic truth of existence: Everything is always in flux. Until you accept this, you won’t be able to find true equanimity. But to do that means accepting life as it is, not just what you consider the “good parts.” “That things change is the reason why you suffer in this world and become discouraged,” Suzuki-roshi writes in Not Always So: Practicing the True Spirit of Zen. “[But] when you change your understanding and your way of living, then you can completely enjoy your new life in each moment. The evanescence of things is the reason you enjoy your life.” Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success. Phil Jackson and Hugh Delehanty. Page 168
• “There’s a Zen saying I often cite that goes, “Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.” The point: Stay focused on the task at hand rather than dwelling on the past or worrying about the future.” Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success. Phil Jackson and Hugh Delehanty.  Page 173
• “Forget mistakes, forget failures, forget everything, except what you’re going to do now and do it. Today is your lucky day. WILL DURANT” Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success.  Phil Jackson and Hugh Delehanty. Page 278