7 Quotes That Will Change the Way You Look at Life
For those seeking a dose of divine inspiration, and stillness in the momentum.
Language possesses the means to elevate our worlds and lives. Yet it is in the silence beyond them; a gentle pause, in which we turn inward and meet ourselves. Only once we have met ourselves, can we truly know life, in its intimate and most authentic form.
7. “My heart is at ease knowing that what was meant for me will never miss me and that what misses me was never meant for me.”
— Imam al-Shafi’i
Your mind may tend to circuitously ruminate, about what has passed, and what is yet to come.
Oscillating between the memories and melancholia of the past, and the fantasies and fears of the future, we rob ourselves of the lightness of being.
Relax in the knowing that there is essentially no “one that got away” or “victory that slipped through your fingers” — everything is as it is; is as it should be in the current moment.
Your past is a guide; your meanderings astray are teachers.
Do not punish yourself by living in the nostalgic illusion of what you think should have, or could have been. Honour the lessons and growth.
You are exactly where you need to be. Que sera sera.
6. “We carry inside us the wonders we seek outside us.”
— Rumi
Oftentimes, you attempt to quench your insatiable thirst for desire, by seeking to gain more; to become more. And oftentimes, it feels like ignoring the reservoir in favour of sipping ocean water, in the hopes of becoming hydrated. But the more salt water you drink, the more dehydrated you become.
Turning outwards, desire is as vast and endless, as drops of water in the ocean; grains of sand in the barren desert. Turning inwards, you find the revitalising oasis.
An oasis of inner calm and peace exists within you; you just need to become a wandering Bedouin and discover it.
5. “Things arise and she lets them come; things disappear and she lets them go. She has but doesn’t possess, acts but doesn’t expect.”
— Lao Tzu
Trying to capture or possess anything will only keep you bound in the chains of illusion. Time plays on, and life flows forward, whether you permit it to or not.
We are born, and one day we will perish — leaving behind everything we thought was ours.
Trying to capture a moment is like trying to grasp onto water with your bare hands; the water will only elude you, and your exertions will eventually tax and tire you. Drink the water and show gratitude for its nourishment, but do not attempt to possess it.
Rather, let things come, let things be, and let things go.
Let phenomena flow, just as water does.
4. “But let there be spaces in your togetherness.
And let the winds of heaven dance between you.
Love one another, but make not a bond of love.
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but each one of you be
alone–even as the strings of a lute are alone though the quiver
with the same music.”
— Kahlil Gibran
Love others, share with others, and celebrate life in union and joyous harmony with them.
But know solitude, silence and space too.
The deeper the attachment to another, the greater the restriction.
The deeper the authentic love, the greater the expansion.
Love deeply, but also learn to be at peace when you are separated.
Observe the rhythms of nature: The wave flows to meet the shore, and then ebbs back to the ocean. You are a part of nature; a part of the tides, ebbs and flows of life.
Deeply connect with others, and also retreat back home within yourself.
3. “Wisdom tells me I am nothing. Love tells me I am everything. And between the two my life flows.”
— Nisargadatta Maharaj
The atoms in your body were literally formed inside stars.
You are spectacularly made of the stardust of the cosmos. This is not solely mysticism or poetry; this, too, is science. But you are also a speck of dust upon the Earth, while the Earth is merely a single speck in the entirety of the galaxy.
You are the grand paradox of both nothing and everything; leaving little room for self-deprecation or arrogance.
Travel to the humility, openness and expansiveness that is to be found in loving awareness; the harmony and alignment of heart and mind; love and wisdom.
2. “The vibration of being who you are and doing what you love is magnetic. You will align everything you need in your life with that energy.”
— Maryam Hasnaa
You no longer need to desperately clutch blindly at what you believe you can possess, or at what was dictated to you by society and culture.
You are free to be who you are, even if that means defying the norms.
Feel safe to embrace authenticity and integrity; to create out of love and purpose, with the knowing of how transient life is.
Your state of lightness will make the effort feel more effortless.
And when you cease the frantic running, and pause in the stillness, beautiful things will gravitate toward you, because you have realised your innate beauty in embodying authenticity.
1. “The mind can go in a thousand directions, but on this beautiful path, I walk in peace. With each step, the wind blows. With each step, a flower blooms.”
— Thich Nhat Hanh
You are a part of the divine, ethereal tapestry of nature.
Walk in union and harmony with life; in all its forms and glory.
Take a moment to slow down, to walk without rushing, and feel the fresh zest of vitality, from a single cooling inhale.
Learn the secrets of nature:
Flow like a river, blossom like a flower, embrace the cycles of rhythms of the transient seasons, and let the dead leaves drop so that fresh life can flourish.
And in the wise words of Thich Nhat Hanh, “Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet.”
Dedicated to Omar
