“The art of living… is neither careless drifting on the one hand nor fearful clinging to the past on the other. It consists in being sensitive to each moment, in regarding it as utterly new and unique, in having the mind open and wholly receptive.”
― Alan W. Watts
“Laughter is wine for the soul – laughter soft, or loud and deep, tinged through with seriousness – the hilarious declaration made by man that life is worth living.”
– Sean O’Casey
“Whatever we do or do not do in our lives, we need always to remain connected with the rest of the Holy Saturday when Jesus lay buried in the tomb and the whole of creation waited for all things to be made new.”
~ Henri Nouwen, Walk With Jesus, Stations of the Cross
“The part of life we really live is small.’ For all the rest of existence is not life, but merely time.”
~ Seneca
And I have to add that while this might sound pessimistic, I hope you will find this quote more as inspiration to spend more time choosing to live life rather than choosing to just exist. 🙂 Peace!
“Wherever you are, be all there! Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God.”
~ Jim Elliot
“I see hope as an attitude where everything stays open before me. Not that I don’t think of my future in those moments, but I think of it in an entirely different way. Daring to stay open to whatever will come to me today, tomorrow, two months from now or a year from now – that is hope. To go fearlessly into things without knowing how they will turn out, to keep on going, even when something doesn’t work the first time, to have trust in whatever you’re doing – that is living with hope.”
~ Letter from a student of Henri Nouwen, With Open Hands
“The most common ego identifications have to do with possessions, the work you do, social status and recognition, knowledge and education, physical appearance, special abilities, relationships, person and family history, belief systems, and often nationalistic, racial, religious, and other collective identifications. None of these is you.”
~ Eckhart Tolle
“To pray means to open your hands before God. It means slowly relaxing the tension which squeezes your hands together and accepting your existence with an increasing readiness, not as a possession to defend, but as a gift to receive.”
~ Henri Nouwen
“Your True Self is much larger than you! You are along for the ride. When you learn to live from your soul, you live with everyone and everything else too. Any language of exclusion or superiority no longer makes sense to you. Inside your True Self, you know you are not alone, and you foundationally “belong” to God and to the universe. You no longer have to work at feeling important.”
~ Richard Rohr
Open Life Up 