Mindfulness

Mindfulness, a photo by jah~ on Flickr.

'They (the Stoics) argued that happiness was not something guaranteed by other people or things. 

These are changeable and out of our control. 

All that we can be sure of is our own soul: for good or ill, all happiness is prefaced on this preparedness. 

It takes mindfulness, discipline, honesty.'

by Dr Damon Young, philosopher at the University of Melbourne, and author of Distraction.
from The Saturday Age, 30-31 December 2011, p. 17

Kitchen

Hall Finished 1, a photo by debtex70 on Flickr.

'People aren't overcome by situations or outside forces; defeat invades from within ... '

 p. 92, Kitchen

by Banana Yoshimoto 

Translated from the Japanese by Megan Backus
Faber & Faber 1993

http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~caitlin/papers/kitchen.html

Stock your mind

Finishing Touch on Dumped Furnitures, a photo by Ikhlasul Amal on Flickr.

'Stock your mind, stock your mind. 
It is your house and treasure and no one in the world can interfere with it. 
If you won the Irish Sweepstakes and bought a house that needed furniture would you fill it with bits and pieces of rubbish? 
Your mind is your house and if you fill it with rubbish from the cinemas it will rot in your head. 
You might be poor, your shoes might be broken, but your mind is a palace.'

 

From Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/books-obituaries/5867097/Frank-McCourt.html