Practical Meditation for Beginners Quotes

“Every time the mind wanders away from the awareness of the breath, notice that it has wandered and bring your awareness back to the breath. This can be likened to a rep in the gym—every time you bring your mind back, you are building your "muscle" of attention.”
― Benjamin W. Decker, Practical Meditation for Beginners: 10 Days to a Happier, Calmer You

“Mindfulness practice can teach us about the nature of thinking, and perhaps even more importantly, it can teach us that we are not our thoughts.”
― Benjamin W. Decker, Practical Meditation for Beginners: 10 Days to a Happier, Calmer You

“Mindfulness meditation practice will help you discern which thoughts support your goals and well-being and which thoughts are destructive or unhealthy and should be discarded.”
― Benjamin W. Decker, Practical Meditation for Beginners: 10 Days to a Happier, Calmer You

“By choosing to become aware, you choose to take back control of your attention and perspective, which can transform even mundane tasks, such as washing dishes or making coffee, into something joyful and beautiful.”
― Benjamin W. Decker, Practical Meditation for Beginners: 10 Days to a Happier, Calmer You

“Achieving the advanced state of no-thought is not about stopping the thinking process, but rather, it’s about cultivating an expansive sensitivity to a level above the thinking mind.”
― Benjamin W. Decker, Practical Meditation for Beginners: 10 Days to a Happier, Calmer You

“The monks find comfort, contentment, and even joy in the simplest of tasks, living each moment to its fullest by grounding themselves in the present.”
― Benjamin W. Decker, Practical Meditation for Beginners: 10 Days to a Happier, Calmer You

“Zazen can ultimately retrain your mind to see the world from an entirely new perspective.”
― Benjamin W. Decker, Practical Meditation for Beginners: 10 Days to a Happier, Calmer You

“Count on your beginner's mind to help you through any times when you might feel resistant or self-conscious about your practice.”
― Benjamin W. Decker, Practical Meditation for Beginners: 10 Days to a Happier, Calmer You

“By practicing mindful observation, you will become more aware of the virtues and qualities of what you are observing—a simple but useful spoon or a beautiful flower—which unlocks appreciation and gratitude for what you have. Cultivating a sense of gratitude in itself has been scientifically proven to have numerous health benefits.”
― Benjamin W. Decker, Practical Meditation for Beginners: 10 Days to a Happier, Calmer You

“There is a silent act of will at play when we observe the impulse to allow our eyes to wander, then gently override it. This develops the mental fortitude and willpower to stick to whatever it is that we are focusing on or working with.”
― Benjamin W. Decker, Practical Meditation for Beginners: 10 Days to a Happier, Calmer You

“We can compare our attention to light: If we focus our concentration on something, we might say that we are “shining a spotlight” on it. When we practice open awareness, rather than shining a spotlight on one particular thing, we might say that we allow our awareness to “shine” in all directions around us, like the glow of a candle flame.”
― Benjamin W. Decker, Practical Meditation for Beginners: 10 Days to a Happier, Calmer You

“Chakra Healing by Margarita Alcantara Yogalosophy by Mandy Ingber”
― Benjamin W. Decker, Practical Meditation for Beginners: 10 Days to a Happier, Calmer You

“Mindful observation holds the same mindful awareness as open awareness, but with open eyes gently directing attention to a specific object.”
― Benjamin W. Decker, Practical Meditation for Beginners: 10 Days to a Happier, Calmer You

“In Christian meditation, we reflect on Biblical truths and their relevance to our lives. We look to them to help open our hearts and minds so that we may welcome the Spirit's guidance in all of our thoughts, words, and deeds.”
― Benjamin W. Decker, Practical Meditation for Beginners: 10 Days to a Happier, Calmer You

“People all over the world meditate in many ways, following a wide variety of recommendations.”
― Benjamin W. Decker, Practical Meditation for Beginners: 10 Days to a Happier, Calmer You

“By becoming more attentive and aware of the thoughts arising in your mind, you will create the opportunity to question and reframe them.”
― Benjamin W. Decker, Practical Meditation for Beginners: 10 Days to a Happier, Calmer You

“May your mind know truth and your heart know love. May you be free from harm and free from causing harm. May you and all your relationships be strong, healthy, happy, and fulfilled, for the benefit of all beings.”
― Benjamin W. Decker, Practical Meditation for Beginners: 10 Days to a Happier, Calmer You

“Anywhere you find yourself, do a mindful check-in—Whenever appropriate, take a moment to close your eyes and listen in all directions around you. Be present with wherever you are, whenever you are actually there. Take it all in!”
― Benjamin W. Decker, Practical Meditation for Beginners: 10 Days to a Happier, Calmer You

“If the mind wanders, bring your awareness back to the breath as it expands and contracts, and expand your awareness in all directions around you from there.”
― Benjamin W. Decker, Practical Meditation for Beginners: 10 Days to a Happier, Calmer You

“Through practicing mindful awareness, we cultivate discernment by being more sensitive to the bigger picture and how the present moment relates to it.”
― Benjamin W. Decker, Practical Meditation for Beginners: 10 Days to a Happier, Calmer You

“When we simply notice and allow things to be as they are, we naturally disengage from the impulses that would try to control or change things. This is not a practice in passivity or ignorance—quite the opposite. This is a practice in opening your mind and allowing yourself to receive all the information you possibly can before making any moves or taking any action. Notice the word allow. We do not force ourselves to pick up on sensory input; the awareness expands naturally from a practice of calm, relaxed allowing.”
― Benjamin W. Decker, Practical Meditation for Beginners: 10 Days to a Happier, Calmer You

“Envision your awareness as a glow in all directions around you, mentally scanning all directions at once—simply witnessing the moment as it is.”
― Benjamin W. Decker, Practical Meditation for Beginners: 10 Days to a Happier, Calmer You

“The mental perspective to hold here is that you accept and allow the dog to bark and the car to drive by, without entertaining the desire for things to be any different than they are.”
― Benjamin W. Decker, Practical Meditation for Beginners: 10 Days to a Happier, Calmer You

“By holding an open-focus awareness, you create a larger mental “container” for your thoughts to pass through.”
― Benjamin W. Decker, Practical Meditation for Beginners: 10 Days to a Happier, Calmer You

“You should always try to meditate in a place where you will be safe and as undisturbed as possible, but keep in mind that in any meditation practice, a crucial component is to allow—even welcome—changes to the outside environment without interrupting the meditation. Simply observe, experience, and allow things to be as they are.”
― Benjamin W. Decker, Practical Meditation for Beginners: 10 Days to a Happier, Calmer You

“You are not your thoughts; you are the thinker of the thoughts.”
― Benjamin W. Decker, Practical Meditation for Beginners: 10 Days to a Happier, Calmer You

“If you’ve been thinking negative thoughts for long enough, you have probably come to believe in and identify with them.”
― Benjamin W. Decker, Practical Meditation for Beginners: 10 Days to a Happier, Calmer You

“Just because you think something doesn’t mean it’s true, or even particularly important.”
― Benjamin W. Decker, Practical Meditation for Beginners: 10 Days to a Happier, Calmer You

“Thoughts provide important information, but they are not fundamentally different from or more important than, say, the taste of a pear or hearing a Mozart symphony.”
― Benjamin W. Decker, Practical Meditation for Beginners: 10 Days to a Happier, Calmer You

“This sixth sense of thought often comes to the foreground in mindfulness practices like meditation.”
― Benjamin W. Decker, Practical Meditation for Beginners: 10 Days to a Happier, Calmer You