Paying attention and awareness are universal capacities of human beings.

It is remarkable how liberating it feels to be able to see that your thoughts are just thoughts and that they are not 'you' or 'reality.' For instance, if you have the thought that you have to get a certain number of things done today and you don't recognize it as a thought but act as if it's the 'the truth,' then you have created a reality in that moment in which you really believe that those things must all be done today.

Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally.

Just watch this moment, without trying to change it at all. What is happening? What do you feel? What do you see? What do you hear?

It is indeed a radical act of love just to sit down and be quiet for a time by yourself.

Mindfulness is so powerful that the fact that it comes out of Buddhism is irrelevant.

My father was a world-class scientist and my mother was a prolific painter. I could see that my parents had completely different ways of knowing and understanding the world, and relating to it. My father approached things through scientific inquiry and exploration, while my mother experienced things through her emotions and senses.