Virtually all of life's ills boil down to mindlessness. If you can understand someone else's perspective, then there's no reason to be angry at them, envy them, steal from them.
Ellen LangerRead
When people are not in the moment, they're not there to know that they're not there.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the importance of being present and aware in the moment.
Ellen Langer's quote highlights the essence of mindfulness, suggesting that when individuals are preoccupied or distracted, they fail to recognize their lack of presence. This disconnection from the moment can lead to missed experiences and a diminished quality of life, pointing to the necessity of awareness in one's daily activities.
Themes
MindfulnessPresenceAwarenessMomentLife
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the benefits of mindfulness in education, this quote can illustrate the importance of presence in learning.
More from Ellen Langer
All quotes →What we have learned to look for in a situation determines mostly what we see.
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Stress is a function not of events, but of our view of those events.
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To be mindfully engaged is the most natural, creative state we can be in.
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People are at their most mindful when they are at play. If we find ways of enjoying our work blurring the lines between work and play the gains will be greater.
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Out of an intuitive experience of the world comes a continuous flow of novel distinctions. Purely rational understanding, on the other hand, serves to confirm old mindsets, rigid categories. Artists, who live in the same world as the rest of us, steer clear of these mindsets to make us see things anew.
Ellen LangerRead
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