Top 1470 Quotes & Sayings by Deepak Chopra - Page 24

There is more and more data that the biological molecules of aging are more under the influence of psychological factors than the chronological age that we usually associate with. Of course there are other things that influence our aging process, including how we perceive time. If you're constantly running out of time, then your biological clock speeds up, and you do run out of time with a heart attack or something like that. The quality of our self-esteem determines how we age. Our perception of our bodies as fields of energy or fields of matter influence how our body ages.

Almost everyone yearns for change in their lives.

A few moments of inner peace and quiet allows the brain to reset itself. You become more centered as this happens, since the brain is clearing out distractions and too much "cross talk."

By removing the obstacles that have built up over time, you can grow your brain from baseline to super brain.

By connecting with the present we turn our attention inward, away from all the chaos and activity, and experience our eternal, unbounded nature.

What you call flaws are really just scars and wounds accumulated over a lifetime.

I think everybody plays a role in their own aging. Some people accelerate it. Some people slow it down. Some people manage to reverse it. It all depends on how much you are invested in the hypnosis of our social condition. So if you believe that at a certain age you have to die and you become dysfunctional, then you will.

Every day, take some time to meditate and cultivate inner quiet. Then ask yourself what I call the "soul questions": Who am I? What do I want? What is the purpose and meaning of my life?

The joy in what I do is mostly creativity. I think creativity is an ecstatic impulse that we all have. And there's nothing more joyful than having a moment of creative insight and actually creating, or rather manifesting or incarnating your creative insight into actual, physical reality.

The intention behind our giving and receiving is the most important thing. When the act of giving is joyful, when it is unconditional and from the heart, then the energy behind the giving increases many times over. But if we give grudgingly, there is no energy behind that giving. If we feel we have lost something through the act of giving, then the gift is not truly given and will not cause increase.

I try not to live my life worrying about what others think. A core spiritual quality is nonjudgment, which is not just about not judging others, but also not living your life worried about others judging you.

Smile, breathe, and go slowly. Thich Nhat Hanh Don't try to steer the river.

You believe that you live in the world, where in fact the world lives within you.

Solitude is the great teacher, and to learn its lessons you must pay attention to it.

The present moment is the only time that is eternal and the only time in which we can experience happiness.

Bhagavad Gita is very relevant to modern times when you see things like global warming, climate chaos, changing weather patterns, natural disasters like hurricane Katrina, extreme poverty, economic disparities, social injustice, war, and terrorism - these are the projection of a collective consciousness that's in disarray.

You don't have to go the gym - just walk 10,000 steps a day and you are activating your good genes. But do practise yoga.

As you take steps to expand your awareness, you will naturally find yourself harnessing your mind's infinite power to create greater health, happiness, and love in your life.

It shapes my reality, where I was born, in two ways. One, I was burdened by the culture I was born in. And secondly, it gave me a context with which to actually see with wise eyes as well. So culture is both a burden as well as an opportunity for us to look at the world through eyes of wisdom.

If you find yourself saying things like, "I'm hitting the age where I'll need reading glasses," "I'm too old to try yoga (or some other activity)," or other such statements, make a conscious choice to shift your perspective and what you tell yourself about your body and age.

Real happiness comes from having an unassailable connection to the deep state of unbounded awareness at our core. This state of being is our own inner joy that expresses the exuberance and wonder of being alive at this moment; it is our own self-luminous essence made conscious of itself.

There is actually a genetic signature associated with meditation.

As a physician who was smoking a pack of cigarettes a day, getting drunk on weekends, stressed out about having 35 patients in the hospital, and not being able to help either them or myself, I had my existential crisis way before I met Maharishi. I did meet him and he was an influence, but I met many other people as well.

You have to understand the teen years of any leader to understand the mechanics of their leadership.

While the health benefits are many, yoga offers much more than just a way to exercise the body.

We took blood samples and we can predict if someone is doing meditation or not.

Don't instantly throw yourself into external demands.

I used to respond to people who are dismissive of my work, but as I grow older, I think it's best to ignore your critics. For one thing, they can't stand it, and secondly, you're never going to change them.

The themes that run through all my work are that consciousness is the ultimate reality; and that by understanding consciousness, you understand everything about yourself, about perception, about creativity, about behavior, about relationships. By understanding consciousness, you have the ability to create anything in your world. And you have the ability to influence also the collective consciousness to not only bring about personal healing, but social transformation, and ultimately healing our planet, which happens to be extremely wounded.

Throughout your day, when you notice that your thoughts have drifted away, come back to where you are. You'll instantly see why you drifted away, whether because you were bored, anxious, dwelling on the past, or anticipating the future.

When you focus on just one thing at a time, without rushing or procrastinating, you cultivate a sense of timeless awareness that creates feelings of calm and well-being.

The teenage years are years of great chaos and confusion in your lives, but also a time of seeking a deeper meaning.

Meditation is one of the most direct and powerful ways to awaken to who we really are and to experience happiness as a state of consciousness that already exists within us.

By dwelling on negativity, we prevent ourselves from living in the simple state of well-being.

The most powerful benefits of meditation come from having a regular, daily practice.

Health and well-being are the natural state of the body and mind.

There is a need for everyone's brain to be imprinted with more self-enhancing impulses: the impulse to peace over violence, love over fear, compassion over selfishness.

We may experience a realization of our true Self the first time we meditate, but most often the process of awakening is gradual.

Transcendental meditation is one particular form of mantra meditation that allows your mind to experience progressively abstract fields of awareness. And ultimately you settle down in the space between your thoughts. The space between your thoughts is pure consciousness, and it's a field of possibilities. It's a field of creativity. It's a field of correlation. It's also a field of uncertainty. It's also a field where intention actualizes its own fulfillment. So that meditation allows you to contact this field, which is very primordial - the ground state of our existence.

I sing my song for a living, and I don't really worry about who listens or what they think. But it seems to make a living.

I think where you're born brings a history with it - a cultural history, a mythical history, an ancestral history, a religious context - and certainly influences your perception of the world and how you interpret everyday reality.

When you say, "I have a sad heart," then you literally have a sad heart. If we looked inside your heart, we would find it affected by molecules that cause stress and damage, such as excessive amounts of adrenaline and cortisol.

While the mind lives in the past and the future, the body lives in the now.

Work on psychological blocks like shame and guilt - they falsely color your reality.

Don't censor incoming data through denial.

Like anything else, knowledge must evolve.

Nothing could be closer than the present, yet nothing slips away faster.

In an instant, our mind can carry us far away into memories of the past or fantasies about the future. Or we may get caught up in a race against the clock, feeling like there's never enough time. We say things like "Time is flying," "Time is running out," or "There are never enough hours in the day."

During meditation, our breathing slows, our blood pressure and heart rate decrease, and stress hormone levels fall.

Meditation calms the mind, and when the mind is in a state of restful awareness, the body relaxes too.

The skill of letting go can be learned, and once learned you will enjoy living much more spontaneously.

Awareness isn't passive. It directly leads to action (or inaction).

Connecting to the feelings in your body brings you back into present-moment awareness.

Rather than looking for another religion, look for the values that are in every religion.

The most effective way to live in the flow of the timeless is meditation.

Everyone who experiences a spontaneous peak experience tries to recapture the bliss, but most are disappointed. They search for fulfillment in the next job, a new relationship, more money, a coveted car, accolades, and accomplishments.

Take responsibility for making conscious choices.

Here are a few ways to face a habit and say "no" to it: Go outside your fixed routine; turn off the computer and the television; find a new outlet for your down time; talk to someone who holds a viewpoint contrary to yours and pay respectful attention, really listening.

I do an early morning meditation from 4am to 6am, a yoga class from 6am to 7am and then set an intention to feel joyful and energetic in my body and loving and compassionate in my heart. For the rest of the day, I just go with the flow.

I was influenced by the political environment of our country that has just gained freedom from British colonialism. And the seminal figures in that environment were Mahatma Gandhi, who had been assassinated shortly after I was born, but nevertheless dominated the collective psyche of the country. And of course there were other statesmen who were very much part of the culture we knew as well as looked upon by society as leaders, and mentors, and people that inspires us to have a vision for idealism.