Pema Chodron

Meditations inspired by scriptures that call us to wake up, be alert, pay attention, be present and engaged. What does that spiritual practice look like in your life?

Golden slumbers kiss your eyes
Smiles awake you when you arise. — Thomas Dekker

I cannot be awake for nothing looks to me as if did before.
Or else I am awake for the first time
and all before has been a mean sleep.
— Walt Whitman

There are many whose eyes are awake
and whose hearts are asleep;
Yet, what can be seen
By mere creatures of water and clay?
But he who keeps his heart awake
Will know and live this mystery;
While the eyes of his head may sleep
His heart will open hundreds of eyes.
If your heart isn’t yet illumined
Be awake always, be a seeker of the heart,
Be at war continually with your carnal soul.
But if your heart is already awakened,
Sleep peacefully, sleep in the arms of Love,
For your spiritual eye is not absent
From the seven heavens and seven directions
 — Attributed to Rumi

Our species needs, and deserves, a citizenry with minds awake and a basic understanding of how the world works. — Carl Sagan

We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aid, but by an infinite expectation of the dawn. — Henry David Thoreau

Buddhist mindfulness is about being present but I also think its about being real. Being awake to everything. Feeling like nothing can hurt you if you can look it straight on. — Krista Tippett

Why does the eye see a thing more clearly in dreams than the imagination when awake? — Leonardo da Vinci

To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest. To live fully is to be always in no-man’s-land, to experience each moment as completely new and fresh. — Pema Chodron

In these times you have to an optimist to open your eyes when you awake in the morning. — Carl Sandburg

Today is life —the only life you are sure of. Make the most of today. Get interested in something. Shake yourself awake. Develop a hobby. Let the winds of enthusiasm sweep through you. Live today with gusto.— Dale Carnegie

I love sleep. My life has a tendency to fall apart when I’m awake, you know? — Ernest Hemingway

Sleeping is no mean art. For its sake one must stay awake all day. — Friedrich Nietzche