We are normal.

We go through our day with the perfect intention to be in the moment.

To be in our bodies and our minds just as they are. To experience the air, the trees the loved ones in our lives. To notice our food as it goes into our mouths, to notice our breath as we exhale.

We often have this intention, but then something happens. We have a feeling we don’t like and we want to figure out how to get rid of it. Or we have a person bugging us, a situation annoying us, something we need to figure out, fix, cure, help.

And we are off. We are in our thinking minds trying to change everything. Trying to get a grip.

And this is what I call normal.

But what we know is that we can work with this. We can work with ourselves exactly as we are. We can come back to this moment any time we want. But first we have to remember.

And that is what reading or listening to a good teacher or mentor can do for us. It can give us the tools we need to bring us back to the moment.

So, here I offer up six inspiring quotes to help each of us remember that we can be exactly as we are right now. Because really, that is all we ever are.

1. “How to be at peace now? By making peace with the present moment. The present moment is the field on which the game of life happens. It cannot happen anywhere else.” ~ Eckhart Tolle

2. “As we become wiser we realize that fixing the flow of feelings doesn’t work. Primary feelings are simply feelings, and every day consists of pleasant, painful and neutral moments. Our painful experience does not represent failure.” ~ Jack Kornfield

3. “So, the role of mindfulness is touching, recognizing, greeting, and embracing. It does not fight or suppress. The role of mindfulness is like the role is a mother, embracing and soothing the suffering child.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

4. “This much should be obvious: you can’t deal with thoughts by taking them out and shooting them. The delicate, intelligent energy we call the ‘mind’ does not respond well to harshness.” ~ Sally Kempton

5. “Instead of asking ourselves, ‘How can I find security and happiness?’ we could ask ourselves, ‘Can I touch the center of my pain? Can I sit with suffering, both yours and mine, without trying to make it go away? Can I stay present to the ache of loss or disgrace-disappointment in all its many forms-and let it open me?’ This is the trick.” ~ Pema Chodron

6. “Except that it’s not really ‘now’ that the inner critic attacks. It’s a few seconds or a minute ago. The inner critic depends upon comparison, and when we are fully aware in the present moment, when there is no past or future in our mind’s awareness, there is nothing to compare. There is only what is, as it is. The inner critic disappears.” ~ Jan Chozen Bays

May these words bring all of us back to who we are, exactly as we are, wherever we are.

 

Relephant quotes:

11 Quotes to Change your Life (a Little).

 

Author: Ruth Lera

Editor: Catherine Monkman

Photo: Scarleth Marie/Flickr