"Don’t lament so much about how your career is going to turn out. You don’t have a career. You have a life." — Cheryl Strayed Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar
"A smile can be a kind of yoga practice, yoga of the mouth. You just smile, even if you don’t feel joy. And after you smile, you’ll see you feel differently. Sometimes the mind takes the initiative, and sometimes you have to allow the body to take the initiative. ... If we are not able to smile, then the world will not have peace." — Thich Nhat Hanh How to Relax and Being Peace
"Meditation has two aspects. The first is stopping (shamatha in Sanskrit). We run throughout our whole life, chasing after some idea of happiness. Stopping means to stop our running, our forgetfulness, and our being caught in the past or the future. ... We think that happiness and well-being aren’t possible in the present. If you can stop and establish yourself in the here and the now, you will see that there are many elements of happiness available in this moment. ... The second aspect of meditation is looking deeply (vipashyana in Sanskrit) in order to see the true nature of things. ... Mindfulness is the continuous practice of touching deeply every moment of daily life. To be mindful is to be truly present with your body and your mind, to harmonize your intentions and actions, and to be in harmony with those around you." — Thich Nhat Hanh How to Relax
"This is a happy moment. This mantra can be practiced at any moment. We have the tendency to forget the many conditions for happiness that are already available to us." — Thich Nhat Hanh How to Fight
"Optimism is a choice." — Unknown
"By cleverly using new tools and mapping the unknown, we can redraw the line between the possible and the impossible." — Natalia Martinez Alpinist Magazine, Issue 75, "Living Maps of Patagonia: Toward a New Future of Exploration"
"The Buddhist concept of the middle way refers to the balance between the extreme and the mundane. Somewhere in the middle is a balance of the two. “In ways you need to tug on both ends to realize the middle, because if you’re just in the middle all the time, it’s unsatisfying. You need extremes to find balance, you have to test both ends to actualize it." — Joe Grant via Annie Pokorny Adventure Journal, "Struggling With the Mundane After a Major Adventure Ends"
"Complaining is contagious, so I’m trying not to drive down that road anymore. I want to be the one at the wheel when people buckle up, grab the “oh shit” handle, and get ready for a weird and wild ride. Because life sucks sometimes, but not most of the time, and hitting the gas and going anyway is a whole lot better than complaining about it." — Steph Wright Oru Kayak, "Go Anyway"
"Just be your natural, horrid self." — 4th Doctor Doctor Who, "The Masque of Mandragora"
"Walking meditation is a way of waking up to the wonderful moment we are living in. ... if we’re awake, then we’ll see this is a wonderful moment that life has given us, the only moment in which life is available." — Thich Nhat Hanh How to Walk
"The same is true when you drink a cup of tea: if you’re concentrated and you focus your attention on the cup of tea, then the cup of tea becomes a great joy. Mindfulness and concentration bring about pleasure and insight." — Thich Nhat Hanh How to Walk
"Every time we take a step on this Earth, we can appreciate the solid ground underneath us." — Thich Nhat Hanh How to Walk
"When you walk, arrive with every step. That is walking meditation. There’s nothing else to it." — Thich Nhat Hanh How to Walk
"Happiness is not a state to arrive at, but a manner of traveling." — Margaret Lee Runbeck
"You are not an idiot. It’s okay if you don’t know everything. Don’t pretend. Ask all the questions you want." — Jedidiah Jenkins To Shake the Sleeping Self: A Journey from Oregon to Patagonia, and a Quest for a Life with No Regret
"Saying something is impossible is a great way to get out of having to try." — Carolyn Highland Out Here: Wisdom from the Wilderness
"Often the idea of change is more difficult than the change itself." — Sarah Marquis Wild by Nature: From Siberia to Australia, Three Years Alone in the Wilderness on Foot
"Well shit, at least you tried." — Unknown
"The important thing is to go as far as possible despite the uncertainty, instead of wondering if it might have been possible after not even trying." — Kei Taniguchi Alpinist Magazine, Issue 68, "Pandora's Box" by Akihiro Oishi
"The rope comes tight to my harness and I follow it into the maze of snow flutings. My movements feel in tune with our environment. A rhythmic tempo takes over my thoughts: I simply kick, step and breathe. Our line of ascent feels like water flowing uphill, naturally rolling through the terrain. An expression of life rather than a fight for survival." — Michael Gardner Alpinist Magazine, Issue 77, "Worth the Weight"
