“If you go slowly enough, six or seven months is an eternity—if you let it be—if you forget old things, and learn new ones. Even a week can last forever.”
Rick Bass, Winter

"In the midst of winter, I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer."
Albert Camus

Inspiring Quotes

Readers: feel free to post inspiring quotes about dogs, mortality, meditation, and time

Animals hold us to what is present: to who we are at the time, not who we've been or how our bank accounts describe us. What is obvious to an animal is not the embellishment that fattens our emotional resumes but what is bedrock and current in us: aggression, fear, insecurity, happiness, or equanimity. Because they have the ability to read our involuntary tics and scents, we are transparent to them and thus exposed--we're finally ourselves.
Gretel Ehrlich, The Solace of Open Spaces

If you lose your purpose, it's like you're broken.
from Hugo (the movie)

Rather than seeing mindfulness and Buddhism as shaping my efforts on the page, what I’ve come to understand is that my lifelong pursuit of writing and creativity has helped to open me to the path of Buddhism. The innumerable lessons learned in struggling with my writing over the years has made me already aware (albeit in an inarticulate, subconscious way) of the simple wisdom of mindfulness and non-attachment presented in the Buddha’s Four Noble Truths.
Dinty W. Moore, The Mindful Writer: Noble Truths of the Writing Life  (forthcoming in May, 2012)
Note: this book will be full of inspiring quotes he has gathered from writers and Buddhists, and when it's out, we won't need this page any more!

2 comments:

  1. Just a couple procrastination tips I've picked up.

    1. Start your resolutions (Lenten, New Year's, Etc.)one week earlier,finish them one week later.
    2. Write your papers on Friday night when everyone is at the bar. Take your classes on Saturday morning when everyone is getting home.
    3. Walk your springer (had one :( ) three times a day or more. Run with him hard at least once per day.
    4. Don't postpone giving your child a hug or petting your dog.
    5. Have a good lab partner. I had one too. Get the experiment done in your heads before class. Do it in class. Write it while you're doing it.
    6. Fix your bad grammar while you're writing it before you write more of it.
    7. If you're lucky enough to have or to have a had a good editor or lab partner make sure you get to know her sometime for it is never to late to edit or write up experiments.
    8. When you are writing or studying for an exam make sure you are reading something else for you need a break. I recommend reading non-fiction when writing non-fiction papers and reading voluminuous fiction when reading for a voluminous exams (bar, comps, LSAT, MCAT, GRE, etc.)
    9. It is never too late to thank your Editors and Lab Partners.
    10. Read this blog often as it can help MP go down better for persons who for various reasons are too close to the central issues.

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  2. Dear Shades, Thanks so much for these tips! I will follow the ones that apply!

    ReplyDelete