I took my father on a coach trip last summer. We were halfway there when the driver lost control of the coach, it flew down a hill around a bend and crashed through a brick wall. I wasn't hurt but luckily my father had the presence of mind to kick my head in.
An unread book does nobody any good. Stories happen in the mind of a reader, not among symbols printed on a page.
In a way, fasting is like the "calming of the monkey mind" effected by the rosary prayer: both are means of stilling the effervescence of relatively superficial preoccupations.
I knew I was in good hands [with Didier Dubot] and we could accomplish whatever I had in mind.
Voluntary simplicity has more to do with the state of mind than a person's physical surroundings and possessions.
I had to be careful. A mistake I made when I submitted ideas initially was that one of them was too much like Elephant and Piggie, thinking that was what it needed to be. That's not what Mo was looking for. But I did definitely keep them in the back of my mind. It was tricky. Like Mo Willems was saying, it had to be something that Elephant and Piggie would like to read, yet we shouldn't make anything that was too much like Elephant and Piggie, because why would you want to do that?
Happiness is nothing but temporary moments here and there - and I love those. But I would be bored out of my mind if I were happy all the time.
I can imagine no more comfortable frame of mind for the conduct of life than a humorous resignation.
You can make your mind sharper, you can get sharper with time.
When the mind is left without anything to cling to, it becomes still.
I learned early on to abandon all those preconceived notions you have about other actors and it's served me really well. I usually just try to empty my mind of that. I love meeting actors and I love working with actors.
[Blow Ya Mind] it's a feel good song, a relaxed song. . . people are just digging it.
It is as if the formation of patterns within the unconscious mind is accompanied by physical patterns in the outer world. In particular, as psychic patterns are on the point of reaching consciousness, the synchronicities reach their peak; moreover, they generally disappear as the individual becomes consciously aware of a new alignment of forces within his or her own personality. . . It is as if the internal restructuring produces external resonance, or as if a burst of 'mental energy' is propagated outward onto the world.
From a Buddhist point of view, the first thing to help is yourself, to get your own mind together. And to really understand how to benefit beings, not just on the physical level, but on all levels. Then there are endless beings you can benefit.
It is certain that the Jew, if he desired-or if they were driven to it, as the antisemites seem to wish-could now have the ascendancy, nay, literally the supremacy, over Europe; that they are not working or planning for that end is equally sure. . . The resourcefulness of the modern Jews, both in mind and soul, is extraordinary.
Only by creating peace within our own mind and helping others to do the same can we hope to achieve peace in this world.
Losing It Some days I think I'm losing my mind. What seems so clear most of the time becomes a big question mark. Am I really the way I percieve myself, or is the person others see the truth of me? I wait for answers, but inside I know I have to go out and find them. And answers like knowledge, are not always where we first look for them.
Those only are happy (I thought) who have their minds fixed on some object other than their own happiness.
Spiritual evolution is a movement from the states of mind that reflect life less accurately to the states of mind that reflect life more accurately.
Nature's first great title--mind.
