April 2021 Touchstones Ministry Theme: Mindfulness

April 1: “Treat everyone you meet as if they were you.” ~ Doug Dillon

April 2: “Patience has all the time it needs.” ~ Allan Lokos

April 3: “Most of us take for granted that time flies, meaning that it passes too quickly. But in the mindful state, time doesn’t really pass at all. There is only a single instant of time that keeps renewing itself over and over with infinite variety.” ~ Deepak Chopra

April 4: “Few of us ever live in the present. We are forever anticipating what is to come or remembering what has gone.” ~ Louis L’Amour

April 5: “In this moment, there is plenty of time. In this moment, you are precisely as you should be. In this moment, there is infinite possibility.” ~ Victoria Moran

April 6: “Life is a dance. Mindfulness is witnessing that dance.” ~ Amit Ray

April 7: “Mindfulness is simply being aware of what is happening right now without wishing it were different; enjoying the pleasant without holding on when it changes (which it will); being with the unpleasant without fearing it will always be this way (which it won’t).” ~ James Baraz

April 8: “Don’t let a day go by without asking who you are… each time you let a new ingredient to enter your awareness.” ~ Deepak Chopra

April 9: “Meditation and mindfulness are tools for working with the mind, but where they have led me is to a blossoming of the heart.” ~ Narissa Doumani

April 10: “It stands to reason that anyone who learns to live well will die well. The skills are the same: being present in the moment, and humble, and brave, and keeping a sense of humor.” ~ Victoria Moran

April 11: “Start living right here, in each present moment. When we stop dwelling on the past or worrying about the future, we’re open to rich sources of information we’ve been missing out on—information that can keep us out of the downward spiral and poised for a richer life.” ~ Mark Williams

April 12: “Like a child standing in a beautiful park with his eyes shut tight, there’s no need to imagine trees, flowers, deer, birds, and sky; we merely need to open our eyes and realize what is already here, who we already are—as soon as we stop pretending, we’re small or unholy.” ~ Bo Lozoff

April 13: “Eventually it will become quiet enough so that you can simply watch the heart begin to react, and let go before the mind starts. At some point in the journey, it all becomes heart, not mind.” ~ Michael Singer

April 14: “Mindfulness meditation doesn’t change life. Life remains as fragile and unpredictable as ever. Meditation changes the heart’s capacity to accept life as it is. It teaches the heart to be more accommodating, not by beating it into submission, but by making it clear that accommodation is a gratifying choice.” ~ Sylvia Boorstein

April 15: “Compassion is not complete if it does not include oneself.” ~ Allan Lokos

April 16: “…it is often more difficult to remember to be mindful than to be mindful itself.” ~ Donald Rothberg

April 17: “Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet.” ~ Thích Nhất Hạnh

April 18: “No ideals. No illusions. Just reality—but more perfect than you’ve ever imagined. That’s what being mindful and living in the present means.” ~ Lidiya K.

April 19: “Mindfulness is a way of befriending ourselves and our experience.” ~ Jon Kabat-Zinn

April 20: “You are your reality. You are the main individual, who can raise your mindfulness beyond the natural state of being. You are the main person, who can go into yourself, to know the real ‘you.’ Knowing the real ‘you’ is the best way to live in the present moment. That is enlightenment, what we call reality.” ~ Gladys Adevey

April 21: “Mindfulness is intimacy with all things.” ~ Jeffrey A. White

April 22: “It starts with a single breath and the present moment, but where it takes you is into the vast radiance of your true nature, into a magical, spacious life.” ~ Narissa Doumani

April 23: “The mind which is reluctant to change or alter is ‘ME and I.’ The mind which is ready to get empty and altered is ‘BUDDHA.’” ~ Aditya Ajmera

April 24: “Meditation is to be aware of what is going on: in your body, in your feelings, in your mind, and in the world.” ~ Thích Nhất Hạnh

April 25: “With 70,000 thoughts a day and 95% of our activity controlled by the subconscious mind, no wonder that it feels as though we are asleep most of the time. To awake, we need to train …Mindfulness.” ~ Natasa Pantovic Nuit

April 26: “Mindfulness is not a mechanical process. It is developing a very gentle, kind, and creative awareness to the present moment.” ~ Amit Ray

April 27: “Meditation is the art of silencing the mind so that you may hear the inklings of the Soul.” ~ Manprit Kaur

April 28: “The fact is inner peace isn’t something that comes when you finally paint the whole house a nice shade of cream and start drinking herbal tea. Inner peace is something that is shaped by the wisdom that ‘this too shall pass’ and is fired in the kiln of self-knowledge….” ~ Tanmia Ahsan

April 29: “Even just taking 20 seconds to truly appreciate your surroundings makes a world of difference.” ~ Russell Eric Dobda

April 30: “The whole present moment was a celebration; it always had been; all I needed was fresh eyes to see it.” ~ Narissa Doumani

Bonus Day: “This isn’t just ‘another day, another dollar.’ It’s more like ‘another day, another miracle.’” ~ Victoria Moran