self awareness
668649759374000128
“The personality of a person, the ways of a person, the thoughts, the deeds, and the actions. It’s all based around his heart. For what is a man? A man is his heart! A lying, cheating heart, means a lying, cheating man. A loving, merciful heart, means a loving, merciful man.
A living heart means a living man. A dead heart, means a dead man. Regardless of man’s title, regardless of man’s wealth, rank or position. If the heart is not great, then he cannot not be great. But, if the heart is great, that man remains great under all circumstances. Rich or poor, large or small, so does the heart that make one large or small.”— Muhammad Ali
647952372812972032

644880452907368448
Nobody can say anything about you. Whatsoever people say is about themselves. But you become very shaky, because you are still clinging to a false center. That false center depends on others, so you are always looking to what people are saying about you. And you are always following other people, you are always trying to satisfy them. You are always trying to be respectable, you are always trying to decorate your ego. This is suicidal. Rather than being disturbed by what others say, you should start looking inside yourself…
Whenever you are self-conscious you are simply showing that you are not conscious of the self at all. You don’t know who you are. If you had known, then there would have been no problem— then you are not seeking opinions. Then you are not worried what others say about you— it is irrelevant!
When you are self-conscious you are in trouble. When you are self-conscious you are really showing symptoms that you don’t know who you are. Your very self-consciousness indicates that you have not come home yet.
631978957017874432
The Case of Lee Rodarte
154605523027
What could I say to you that would be of value, except that perhaps you seek too much, that as a result of your seeking you cannot find. … When someone is seeking, it happens quite easily that he only sees the thing that he is seeking; that he is unable to find anything, unable to absorb anything, because he is only thinking of the thing he is seeking, because he has a goal, because he is obsessed with his goal. Seeking means: to have a goal; but finding means: to be free, to be receptive, to have no goal. You, O worthy one, are perhaps indeed a seeker, for in striving towards your goal, you do not see many things that are under your nose.
154454224492
Develop Your Heart | Ajahn Brahm | 2 Dec 2016