Some quotes by the Dalai Lama

Whenever I find myself deviating into the old habit of worrying and let anxiety  take precedence over my life, I find going through some of these quotes by the Dalai Lama. it  really helps me get my focus back on track. His thoughts seamlessly blends the wisdom of ancient scriptures with practical solutions to face the challenges in the today's modern world.
 
Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.”
“Love is the absence of judgment.”  
“If a problem is fixable, if a situation is such that you can do something about it, then there is no need to worry. If it's not fixable, then there is no help in worrying. There is no benefit in worrying whatsoever.” 
“Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.”  
“Someone else action should not determine your response.” 
  “Give the ones you love wings to fly, roots to come back and reasons to stay.”
The ultimate authority must always rest with the individual’s own reason and critical analysis
Man sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. Then he is so anxious about the future that he doesn't enjoy the present: the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.
 This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.
 All major religious traditions carry basically the same message, that is love, compassion and forgiveness ... the important thing is they should be part of our daily lives.
If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion
Follow the three Rs: Respect for self, Respect for others, and Responsibility for all your actions

Zen inspirations

How many times have we trusted someone and have had that trust broken? How many times have you agreed to help someone (albeit reluctantly and against your will) knowing you are being taken for a ride? And to sum it up how many times have you said, “Never again ’and gone ahead and repeated and then regretted it?

In the last couple of months, I have lent some strangers some money, and going by my past experience, I was stupid to expect them to pay me back. I did this in spite of a better sense prevailing over me. I berated myself for being foolish and was reminded of a quote by Einstein, “Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting different results”. Yet, I was proving the theory right.

I have struggled to change myself for years, to be more worldly and practical, to fight against my basic instinct to help someone (you only get hurt) or to just keep my mouth shut( especially knowing how much trouble it has got me into )! . In my mind, I have played up situations , where I say “no” to people, where I only care about my needs, yet in real time and life, I end up reacting exactly the way I promised myself I won’t. Then I read this story and it brought a smile to my face; for we all are slaves to our basic instincts and believe me you can read all the self-improvement books, try everything, but the inherent qualities that you are born with never changes. You can mask them, you can distort it, subdue it, but it is like the dormant volcano – always ready to erupt. So, here is this fabulous Zen anecdote that has made me accept myself and to let go.


Two monks were washing their bowls in the river when they noticed a scorpion that was drowning. One monk immediately scooped it up and set it upon the bank. In the process he was stung. He went back to washing his bowl and again the scorpion fell in. The monk saved the scorpion and was again stung. The other monk asked him, "Friend, why do you continue to save the scorpion when you know its nature is to sting?"
"Because," the monk replied, "to save it is my nature."

10 Favourite Quotes on Change

1. “The best thing you can do is the right thing; the next best thing you can do is the wrong thing; the worst thing you can do is nothing.” -Theodore Roosevelt


2. If you run you stand a chance of losing, but if you don’t run you’ve already lost.” –Barack Obama

3. “20 years from now you will be disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the one’s you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” -Mark Twain

4. Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” -Maria Robinson

5. “Use what talents you possess, the woods will be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.” -Henry van Dyke

6. All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another. ~Anatole France

7. The man who looks for security, even in the mind, is like a man who would chop off his limbs in order to have artificial ones which will give him no pain or trouble. ~Henry Miller.

8. The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind. ~William Blake

9. The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind. ~William Blake

10. Nothing in the world is permanent, and we're foolish when we ask anything to last, but surely we're still more foolish not to take delight in it while we have it. If change is of the essence of existence one would have thought it only sensible to make it the premise of our philosophy.