Dan millman quotes

Choice means saying no to one thing so you can say yes to another.

A jet plane cannot mow the lawn, but it can fly to distant destinations. Don't worry so much about what you can't do; just do what you can as only you can do it.

In life, stress happens when you resist what arises.

Everything you'll ever need to know is within you; the secrets of the universe are imprinted on the cells of your body.

You get no more and no less than what you believe you deserve.

If you want peace of mind I suggest you resign as general manager of the universe.

No amount of knowledge will nourish or sustain your spirit, it can never bring you ulimate happiness or peace. Life requires more that knowledge; it requires intense feeling and constant energy. Life demands right action if knowledge is to come alive.

Every positive change - every jump to a higher level of energy and awareness - involves a rite of passage. Each time to ascend to a higher rung on the ladder of personal evolution, we must go through a period of discomfort, of initiation. I have never found an exception.

Meditation is a valuable exercise, but eventually you have to open up your eyes and look around.

Aim not to win or succeed, but for excellence in the moment.

To see where something leads, it's best to wait until you've reached the end.

everyone tells you what's good for you. they don't want you to find your own answers. they want you to believe theirs.

Moderation? It's mediocrity, fear, and confusion in disguise. It's the devil's dilemma. It's neither doing nor not doing. It's the wobbling compromise that makes no one happy. Moderation is for the bland, the apologetic, for the fence-sitters of the world afraid to take a stand. It's for those afraid to laugh or cry, for those afraid to live or die. Moderation...is lukewarm tea, the devil's own brew.

Just handle what is in front of you now and the future will take care of itself. Otherwise, you'll spend most of your life wondering which foot you'll use to step off the curb when you're still only halfway to the corner.

Conscious evolution begins as we take responsibility for clearing our own obstructions.

While some of us act without thinking, too many of us think without acting.

We are both burdened and blessed by the great responsibility of the will - the power of choice. Our future is determined, in large part, by the choices we make now. We cannot always control our circumstances, but we can and do choose our response to whatever arises. Reclaiming the power of choice, we find the courage to live fully in the world.

This moment deserves your full attention, for it will not pass your way again.

Wisdom is the use of knowledge

Freedom from mental distraction equals power.

Choice means giving up something you want for something else you want more.

Everything you need to know is within you. Listen. Feel. Trust the body's wisdom.

Ultimately, fear of failure generates a vicious circle that creates what is most feared. To break this cycle, you need to make peace with failure. It isn't enough to merely tolerate it; you need to appreciate the failure and use it.

Faith does not rely on knowing anything with certainty. It requires only the courage to accept that whatever happens is for the highest good.

This planet is a divine school, and daily life a classroom. Our choice of teachers depends on what we need to learn.

In the real world, those of us who are most productive, successful, and satisfied focus not on fixing feelings or manipulating thoughts, but on what needs to be done-and then doing it-no matter what thoughts or feelings arise.

I learned that we can do anything, but we can't do everything... at least not at the same time. So think of your priorities not in terms of what activities you do, but when you do them. Timing is everything.

The hours of your life are the most valuable currency you will ever have. How will you spend them?

. . . Action always happens in the present, because it is an expression of the body, which can only exist in the here and now. But the mind is like a phantom that lives only in the past or future. It's only power over you is to draw your attention our of the present.

Stress happens when your mind resists what is...The only problem in your life is your mind's resistance to life as it unfolds.

A warrior does not give up what he loves, he finds the love in what he does

If you face just one opponent, and you doubt yourself, you're out-numbered

As we stop monitoring others' opinions, we connect with our heart's wisdom.

The seasons do not push one another; neither do clouds race the wind across the sky. All things happen in their own good time.

Act happy, feel happy, be happy, without a reason in the world. Then you can love, and do what you will.

There are times to let things happen, and times to make things happen. Now is that time. You will either make things happen, watch what happens, or wonder what happened.

Thoughts naturally arise. The point of meditation is not to banish thoughts but to make peace with them by realizing their lack of substance.

Refine your senses a little more each day; stretch them...your awareness will pierce deeply into your body and into the world.

The world's a puzzle; no need to make sense out of it." - Socrates

Do you have the courage for it? Do you have the love? If you have enough of one, you will develop the other.

Be happy now, without reason - or you never will be at all.

Life comes at us in waves. We can't predict or control those waves, but we can learn to surf

Inward spiritual practices such as meditation, breathing techniques and self-analysis generate insights and enhance abilities, but none are so useful as learning to live harmoniously in a committed relationship, being a skillful parent, or juggling the demands of daily life.

The secret of change consists in concentrating one's energy to create the new, and not to fight against the old.

Life has three rules: Paradox, Humor, and Change. - Paradox: Life is a mystery; don't waste your time trying to figure it out. - Humor: Keep a sense of humor, especially about yourself. It is a strength beyond all measure - Change: Know that nothing ever stays the same.

Every choice eventually leads to wisdom.

Masters of one art have mastered all because they have mastered themselves. With dominion over both mind and muscle, they demonstrate power, serenity, and spirit. They not only have talent for their sport, they have an expanded capacity for life. The experts shine in the competitive arena; the masters shine everywhere.

Enlightenment is not an attainment; it is a realization. And when you wake up, everything changes and nothing changes. If a blind man realizes that he can see, has the world changed?

If we agree on everything, only one of us is necessary.

Life is the only real teacher. It offers many experiences....But the lessons of experience are hidden.

When you become fully responisble for your life, you can become fully human; once you become human, you may discover what it mens to be a warrior.

The journey is what brings us happiness not the destination.

Our sense of self-worth is the single most important determinant of the health, abundance, and joy we allow into our lives.

So trust the process of your life unfolding, and know with certainty, through the peaks and valleys of your journey, that your soul rests safe and secure in the arms of God.

Unless the desire to change remains strong, body and mind tend to return to old, familiar patterns. It takes time-from three to six months-for old habits to become obsolete. By the end of that time, you'll have adapted to a new pattern. In a sense, you'll have found a new way of life.

We discover our character through decisions under pressure.

Responsibility is a grace you give yourself not an obligation

Your fears are not walls, but hurdles.

We are here to live moment by moment, and each moment brings a task, a challenge, a goal. It's good to have big goals, but we need to connect the dots between where we are and where we are going, one day, one moment at a time.

Find the heart of it. Make the complex simple, and you can achieve mastery.

As poet-philosopher Rabindranath Tagore reminds us, "We cannot cross the sea merely by staring at the water." Simplicity has power. And living on purpose comes to this: Just do it. How much simpler can we get?

Coming to appreciate your worth can, in some cases, dramatically improve your circumstances by changing the choices you make and the actions you take. And as you begin to treat yourself with more respect, other people begin to do the same, since we subconsciously "train" others how to treat us through messages we send through body language, tone of voice, and other subtle cues and behaviors. Discovering your innate worth and living from that place allows you to make more constructive choices-to choose the higher roads of life

You're a prisoner of your own illusions - about yourself and about the world.

Live with a peaceful heart; cultivate a warrior's spirit.

You don't have to control your thoughts; you just have to stop letting them control you.

You are a dynamic whole greater than the sum of your parts. By integrating your body, mind, and emotions through training, you reshape your life.

When in haste, rest in the present. Take a deep breath and come back to here and now.

Pain is a relatively objective, physical phenomenon; suffering is our psychological resistance to what happens. Events may create physical pain, but they do not in themselves create suffering. Resistance creates suffering. Stress happens when your mind resists what is... The only problem in your life is your mind's resistance to life as it unfolds.

You have to lose your mind in order to regain your senses.

A Zen student asked his roshi the most important element of Zen.The roshi replied, "Attention." "Yes, thank you," the student replied. "But can you tell me the second most important element?"And the roshi replied, "Attention."

Life is not suffering; it's just that you will suffer it, rather than enjoy it, until you let go of your mind's attachments and just go for the ride freely, no matter what happens.

Wake up! If you knew for certain you had a terminal illness--if you had little time left to live--you would waste precious little of it! Well, I'm telling you...you do have a terminal illness: It's called birth. You don't have more than a few years left. No one does! So be happy now, without reason--or you will never be at all.

You can change your life with a simple shift of attention. But to make that simple shift, you have to find your heart. It's the only way. Accept yourself, then transcend yourself.

Looking back we see with great clarity, and what once appeared as difficulties now reveal themselves as blessings.

Life is a series of moments. The quality of attention and action that we bring to each moment determines the quality of our lives.

Process transforms any journey into a series of small steps, taken one by one, to reach any goal. Process transcends time, teaches patience, rests on a solid foundation of careful preparation, and embodies trust in our unfolding potential.

When you begin your transcendental training, focusing your best efforts, without attachment to outcomes, you will understand the peaceful warrior's way.

You are rich if you have enough money to satisfy all your desires. So there are two ways to be rich: you earn, inherit, borrow, beg, or steal enough money to meet all your desires; or you cultivate a simple lifestyle of few desires; that way you always have enough money.

It may be true that the unexamined life is not worth living-but neither is the unlived life worth examining.

If you don't get what you want, you suffer; if you get what you don't want, you suffer; even when you get exactly what you want, you still suffer because you can't hold on to it forever.

Unless someone truly has the power to say no, they never truly have the power to say yes.

If you want a kinder world, then behave with kindness; if you want a peaceful world, make peace within.

There is no path to Happiness. Happiness is the path. There is no path to Love. Love is the path. There is no path to Peace. Peace is the path.

The time is now, the place is here. Stay in the present. You can do nothing to change the past, and the future will never come exactly as you plan or hope for.

No matter what we feel or know, no matter what our potential gifts or talents, only action brings them to life. Those of us who only think we understand concepts such as commitment, courage, and love, one day discover that we only know when we act; doing becomes understanding.

Where are you? Here What time is it? Now What are you? This moment.

It is better for you to take responsibility for your life as it is, instead of blaming others, or circumstances, for your predicament. As your eyes open, you'll see that your state of health, happiness, and every circumstance of your life has been, in large part, arranged by you - consciously or unconsciously.

Carry your groceries, garden, and do other activities that keep you moving. You will add more years to your life and more life to your years.

Sometimes sorrow, sometimes joy. But beneath it all remember the innate perfection of your life unfolding. That is the secret of unreasonable happiness.

Bad people don't go to hell, they are already there.

Money is neither my god nor my devil. It is a form of energy that tends to make us more of who we already are, whether it's greedy or loving.

The universe does not judge us; it only provides consequences and lessons and opportunities to balance and learn through the law of cause and effect. Compassion is the recognition that we are each doing the best we can within the limits of our current beliefs and capacities.

Faith is the courage to live your life as if everything that happens does so for your highest good and learning. Like it or not.

Faith is our direct link to universal wisdom, reminding us that we know more than we have heard or read or studied that we have only to look, listen, and trust the love and wisdom of the Universal Spirit working through us all.

Live in the Moment", "Empty Your Mind of the Trash" Wisdom is the Use of Knowledge

May you find grace as you surrender to life. May you find happiness, as you stop seeking it. May you come to trust these laws and inherit the wisdom of the Earth. May you reconnect with the heart of nature and feel the blessings of Spirit.

Dream big. Start small and then connect the dots

Faith means living with uncertainty - feeling your way through life, letting your heart guide you like a lantern in the dark.

Better never begin; once begun, better finish.

No need to feel brave or confident; just behave that way.

A little bit of something beats a lot of nothing. Break the largest of difficult tasks into the smallest of steps and it can be done.

Your fears are not walls, but hurdles. Courage is not the absence of fear, but the conquering of it.

I'd always believed that a life of quality, enjoyment, and wisdom were my human birthright and would be automatically bestowed upon me as time passed. I never suspected that I would have to learn how to live - that there were specific disciplines and ways of seeing the world I had to master before I could awaken to a simple, happy, uncomplicated life.

Remember that life develops what it demands - the toughest path creates the strongest warrior. Pray not for a lighter load, but for stronger shoulders.

To be authentic literally means to be your own author.

Surrender means accepting this moment, this body, and this life with open arms. Surrender involves getting out of your own way and living in accord with a higher will, expressed as the wisdom of the heart. Far more than passive acceptance, surrender uses every challenge as a means of spiritual growth and expanded awareness.

Life is not a private affair. A story and its lessons are only made useful if shared.

The warrior acts, the fool reacts.

Energy follows thought; we move toward, but not beyond, what we can imagine. What we assume, expect, or believe creates and colors our experience. By expanding our deepest beliefs about what is possible, we change our experience of life.

I had lost my mind and fallen into my heart.

Avoid fragmentation: Find your focus and seek simplicity. Purposeful living calls for elegant efficiency and economy of effort-expanding the minimum time and energy necessary to achieve desired goals.

I have an almost religious zeal... not for technology per se, but for the Internet which is for me, the nervous system of mother Earth, which I see as a living creature, linking up.

You haven't yet opened your heart fully, to life, to each moment. The peaceful warrior's way is not about invulnerability, but absolute vulnerability--to the world, to life, and to the Presence you felt. All along I've shown you by example that a warrior's life is not about imagined perfection or victory; it is about love. Love is a warrior's sword; wherever it cuts, it gives life, not death.

If you desire to dig a well to reach water, your efforts are more fruitful if you dig one 100-foot-deep hole than if you dig ten holes each 10 feet deep.

When we feel stuck, going nowhere-even starting to slip backward-we may actually be backing up to get a running start.

Allow rather than resist what arises in the present moment-inside or out. Let it be interesting rather than good or bad.

If babies held the same tendency toward self-criticism as adults, they might never learn to walk or talk. Can you imagine infants stomping, 'Aarggh! Screwed up again!' Fortunately, babies are free of self-criticism. They just keep practicing.

To rid yourself of old patterns, focus all your energy not on struggling with the old, but on building the new.

When you release your expectations that the world should fulfill you, your disappointments vanish.

Willpower is the key to success. Successful people strive no matter what they feel by applying their will to overcome apathy, doubt or fear.

There are no mistakes, only lessons. If you don't learn the lesson the first time, they get harder.

Before you can see the Light, you have to deal with the darkness.

Embrace the higher truth that everything comes to pass exactly as it should. Find peace and wisdom by accepting what is.

The quality of your moments produces the quality of your life. So, as thoughts come and go and the waves of mind rush on, Carpe punctum-Seize this moment. It deserves your full attention, for it will not pass your way again.

So be gentle with yourself; show yourself the same kindness and patience you might show a young child - the child you once were. If you won’t be your own friend, who will be? If, when playing an opponent, you are also opposing yourself, you will be outnumbered.