Here is the recorded version of the Grasshopper Note for the week of 7-13-20.

Read the written here.

Be Sociable, Share!

Hi Folks,

I am seeking your opinion. I’m creating a journal filled with quotes for people to reflect on. I call them mini-meditations.

Following is a numbered list of potential candidates. I’m requesting that you jot down the numbers of any of them that speak to you, or get you to see things in a different way, or ones that you just get a special feeling about, and reply to me with your numbers.

I value your opinion, that’s why I’m sending this list to you.

If you choose to participate or not, I totally understand and thank you for considering my request.

All the best,
John

P.S. Most people can breeze through this list in about 10 minutes. I’m looking for your gut impressions. No deep dive is necessary.

P.P.S. Important: No one will be identified in the journal for their submitted preferences.

QUOTES

1. No creativity comes from a reaction, only predictability.

2. A parrot can quote a sacred text; only a hypocrite can defile it.

3. Humpty Dumpty and spilt milk make a great omelet.

4. I think, therefore I am, unhappy.

5. Alone is a fact; lonely is a state of mind.

6. Your strongest asset is your Achilles heel.

7. Living in the past is like dancing with a corpse.

8. Resistance is holding on to what was; acceptance is seeing what is.

9. That which we reach out for is glitter; that which we mine for is gold.

10. You are a conduit for creativity.

11. A hug doesn’t talk.

12. Ask for what you want. Beating around the bush can get you poison ivy.

13. People are hiding jackasses when they send out scapegoats.

14. If you live in a world of right and wrong, you will always have enemies.

15. Sensations need no debate; they’re either OK or not OK.

16. Be grateful for the gifts you already have and watch them multiply.

17. You came from nothing; you’re returning to nothing; so while you’re here, do something.

18. Know less; discover more.

19. There is little room for flexibility once you marry a theory.

20. If you are uncomfortable at home, you live in a house.

21. Who recognizes the beauty in others? – The beauty in you.

22. The Past: Holding on to what you don’t have.

23. Success lies outside your comfort zone.

24. What you know pales in comparison to what you have access to.

25. Pretend there is no other time than the present and you won’t be pretending.

26. The more rules you have, the less flexible you are.

27. These are three words that delay happiness: If, When, and Then.

28. Find your excuse and you’ll find your problem.

29. Ask anyone about their hopes, dreams, and, aspirations and you will make a new friend.

30. The thumb that’s holding you down contains your fingerprint.

31. Your patterns of behavior are not enemies, just parts of you that are outdated and not working anymore.

32. The more you keep hidden, the less intimacy you’ll experience.

33. A true apology comes without justification.

34. Crying is nature’s way of washing away the thoughts that are stuck in your mind.

35. Every time you outgrow something, you peel away a layer of conditioning.

36. You find the end of pretend when you stop chasing the horizon.

37. Focus will take you farther than your talent.

38. The only accurate barometer to measure yourself by is your behavior.

39. You have to self-accept before you can self-improve.

40. If opposition is your first response, you worship at the altar of control.

41. You can’t be a rock star with part-time passion.

42. I have to give up what I know about you to get to know you.

43. There is a God even atheists can believe in: Creativity.

44. You may have to get dirty (translate that to uncomfortable) in order to clean things up.

45. The thing you believe missing in your life is not missing at all. It’s just not in your vision. It exists; you just can’t see it, yet.

46. The thinner your skin, the larger your ego.

47. The person who is more flexible has more options.

48. Is Reality your punching bag? The only one getting worn out is you.

49. The degree to which you suffer is proportionate to your resistance.

50. Unwinding is simply unbinding yourself from your thoughts.

51. When you are physically here and mentally there, you are unconscious.

52. Every lie that you live is a block to your freedom.

53. Your misery will continue if you’d rather be right than get right.

54. There are many people qualified to tell you what’s wrong with you, but only one is qualified to fix it – YOU!

55. The next time you find yourself on the other side of an issue with someone, have the presence of mind to ask yourself, “Where do we agree?”

56. Real forgiveness is not something you talk yourself into; it’s something you feel.

57. Resist being a jukebox today, where people push your buttons and you spin out the same old song.

58. When you’re having a conversation with someone, you’re either sharing reality or sharing philosophy. It helps to know which conversation you’re having.

59. Sometimes it has to get totally dark for someone to see the light.

60. Justifying something keeps something in place.

61. Mistakes have two things in common: They have consequences and they have growth potential.

62. When your life is a way station between events, you have no life.

63. Happiness is a state of mind; peacefulness is a state of being.

64. How often do we color the present with yesterday’s crayons?

65. Ego: All wrapped up in who I’m not.

66. If you want what someone else has, don’t envy them; emulate them.

67. If you’re not carving out a small portion of your day for yourself, you are doing yourself and those around you a giant disservice.

68. Doing diffuses fear.

69. Helping people comes down to this: helping them discover more options. It’s really that basic.

70. The End of Pretend: When you come to a crossroads and realize you are unwilling to make the effort to get what you say you want.

71. The quiet we all seek is between our thoughts.

72. The key to become more welcome is to be more welcoming.

73. Don’t wait for a date to celebrate.

74. Most need a shake to become awake.

75. Many people have a self-image that’s like a Hollywood movie set: all storefront and no store.

76. Before you attempt to convert someone to something you claim to be true, make sure it’s working for you.

77. Hope without dare remains an unfulfilled wish.

78. Life flows into your passion; it drains from your addiction.

79. If you hang on to being right, you’ll hang yourself out to dry.

80. The surest way to NOT get what you want is to stay focused on what you don’t want.

81. Find a place where opinions don’t matter and you’ll find peace.

82. Being open creates more possibilities; being closed continually shuts the door.

83. If you would rather feel the shame of guilt rather than experience the pain of feeling wrong, you’ll never admit to anything.

84. Resumes are not filled with things you tried to do.

85. You can’t teach that which you’re unwilling to learn.

86. Learn from nature: it never demands a flower without first sowing a seed.

87. If you continually deny your feelings, you are drowning in your own fairy tale.

88. We bury our aliveness when we smother it with superficiality.

89. Weakness: Thinking you can think your way out of your vices.

90. One of life’s hardest realities to swallow is that there is another way besides yours.

91. Real communication with another begins when you get past your judgements of them.

92. A pause precedes wisdom.

93. Many people spend their whole life chasing life rather than stopping to live it.

94. Offer your presence and you’ll always bring a gift.

95. If you had no audience, what song would you sing for yourself?

96. True giving has nothing to do with receiving. There is no quid pro quo.

97. Gratitude is a bird you can’t overcook.

98. Our feeling sense decides before a decision registers in our mind.

99. Are you just doing or accomplishing? The difference is focus.

100. A phrase of possibility: I haven’t figured out how to do that, yet.

101. You are a complete package. The only thing that has changed is that you have forgotten.

102. If you’re always the hero of your story, you aren’t very brave.

103. A notion without emotion is just a good idea.

104. There’s no turning corners if you’re going around in circles.

105. Creativity comes quicker when you learn the art of waiting.

106. A foe will help you grow.

107. Feelings are as individual as snowflakes – no two people get hit with the same snowball.

108. When conversation turns into competition, you no longer have communication.

109. Spontaneity spawns creativity.

110. If your head is up your ass, even if you open your eyes, you’re still in the dark.

111. There is nothing you can do about your actual age except lie about it.

112. When we live inside our head, we are participating in theatre, not life.

113. Retreat doesn’t mean defeat.

114. Moving your old stuff from one day to the next can turn into a lifetime of being a pack mule for pain.

115. It’s an eye-opening experience to notice how much of what we believe is devoid of evidence.

116. When you grasp the reality that what you have today is of your own creation, you have taken back the reins of life from the fairy tale of fate.

117. Nature doesn’t think; it just creates.

118. You’d be surprised how wonderful you’d feel if you took a moment now to just write down the things that you love.

119. If excuses were currency, we’d all be rich.

120. In the last argument you had with yourself, who won?

121. Until you are ready to go for what you want without conditions, you will remain a member of the world’s most popular dance club: Two steps forward, one step back.

122. The price of friendship is investment.

123. For dust to settle, you have to stop kicking it up.

124. Want to wait forever? Just wait for someone to knock on your door and hand you a basket full of fruition.

125. Having conditions for happiness is an impediment to happiness.

126. Patience is the ability to not rush something.

127. Perhaps today can be your new happiest day.

128. If you hope in one hand and spit in the other, which hand will fill up first?

Be Sociable, Share!