It's better to make a mistake with the full force of your being than to timidly avoid mistakes with a trembling spirit. Responsibility means recognizing both pleasure and price, action and consequence, then making a choice.
Dan MillmanWe 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.
Dan MillmanSo 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.
Dan MillmanModeration? 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.
Dan MillmanMasters 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.
Dan MillmanWhen 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.
Dan MillmanLife is a series of moments. The quality of attention and action that we bring to each moment determines the quality of our lives.
Dan MillmanEnlightenment 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?
Dan MillmanPain 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.
Dan MillmanThe secret of change consists in concentrating one's energy to create the new, and not to fight against the old.
Dan MillmanMy parents were only one part of my lineage. I also met a number of mentors, one of whom I nicknamed "Socrates" after the ancient Greek, and wrote about in my first book, Way of the Peaceful Warrior. That book emerged in 1980, as a result of travels around the world and decades of preparation, eventually leading to 15 other books written over the years, culminating in my newest offering, The Four Purposes of Life.
Dan MillmanComing 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
Dan Millmaneveryone tells you what's good for you. they don't want you to find your own answers. they want you to believe theirs.
Dan MillmanTo rid yourself of old patterns, focus all your energy not on struggling with the old, but on building the new.
Dan MillmanDad, once an aspiring architect, drove his own catering truck to feed factory workers in downtown Los Angeles, and mom, with a Mensa IQ and mathematical gifts, served as a bookkeeper and worked in a grocery store while pursuing her calling in music: playing piano and composing songs. Perhaps in a way, part of my drive was to complete their unfulfilled ambitions and dreams, but in my own way.
Dan MillmanYou 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.
Dan MillmanFaith does not rely on knowing anything with certainty. It requires only the courage to accept that whatever happens is for the highest good.
Dan MillmanLooking back we see with great clarity, and what once appeared as difficulties now reveal themselves as blessings.
Dan MillmanWhen we align our lives with spiritual laws, challenges remain, but we can approach them with arms open wide, ready to dance.
Dan MillmanYou 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.
Dan MillmanJust 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.
Dan MillmanMoney 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.
Dan Millman. . . 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.
Dan MillmanWe 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.
Dan MillmanShips are safe in harbor, but that's not what ships are for. So set sail on the stormy sea of love. You're going to get soaked at times, but at least you'll know you're alive.
Dan MillmanSports and sex and movies are not inherently bad - But for you they're addictions, not enjoyments. You use them to distract you from what you know you should do. Break free!
Dan MillmanDon't be like the preacher who thought about praying while making love with his life and thought about love while praying.
Dan MillmanI kind of got more interested in writing after I turned in my last college essay and nobody was going to tell me what kind of academic papers to write anymore. I could write whatever I wanted, and I realized that I actually liked it when I could choose what I would write.
Dan MillmanYou 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.
Dan MillmanThe light will disturb us when we're comfortable, and comfort us when we're disturbed. We turn to spirit for help when our foundations are shaking only to find out that it is spirit who is shaking them!
Dan MillmanThe 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.
Dan MillmanAll these years I had been sustained by an illusion-happiness through victory- and now that illusion was burned to ashes. I was no more happier, no more fullfilled, for all my achievements. Finally I saw through the clouds I saw that I had never learned how to enjoy life, only how to achieve. All my life i had been busy seeking happiness, but never finding it or sustaining it.
Dan MillmanWords mean little unless you realize the truth of it yourself. And when you do, you'll be free at last.
Dan Millman