Wednesday, November 10, 2010

"il dolce far niente"





"There is so much about my fate that I cannot control, but other things do fall under the jurisdiction. I can decide how I spend my time, whom I interact with, whom I share my body and life and money and energy with. I can select what I can read and eat and study. I can choose how I'm going to regard unfortunate circumstances in my life-whether I will see them as curses or opportunities. I can choose my words and the tone of voice in which I speak to others. And most of all, I can choose my thoughts."
— Elizabeth Gilbert





"You need to learn how to select your thoughts just the same way you select your clothes every day. This is a power you can cultivate. If you want to control things in your life so bad, work on the mind. That's the only thing you should be trying to control." 


- Elizabeth Gilbert





"You are, after all, what you think. Your emotions are the slaves to your thoughts, and you are the slave to your emotions." 


- Elizabeth Gilbert












6 comments:

Anonymous said...

You should probably find this woman and check if she is not your long-lost twin.

GK

Anonymous said...

This woman's a control freak. True freedom and peace comes from relinquishing control and just trusting.

maia the bee said...

Very interesting quotes must I say, and I agree with them. One thing though, emotions and thoughts work hand in hand. One cannot be without the other. So, you can try to control your thoughts ... thus leading to particular emotions, but if you are constantly in control of your thoughts, that means you are constantly engineering and re-engineering your thoughts in ways that produce positive emotions. How will you ever know what you feel is real or just re-engineered emotions and can this line of thinking obstruct one's judgement?

In Search of Tranquility said...

GK- we are twins eh?

Anonymous- Based on GK's comment, you are suggesting that I'm a control freak as well ;) How do you define peace? Life as we know is consistent of chaos ( please refer to the second law of thermodynamics and entropy). The ONLY thing we have control over is our thoughts. Why would we NOT reconstruct our thoughts in order to live a better life?

Bee- If you are reconstructing your thoughts, you know what your INITIAL thought and emotions are, and you decide whether they are healthy or beneficial- if not, you strive to change them. I guess we always know what our INITIAL thoughts/emotions are, and then we decide for a change. Although I suppose we can "re-engineer" ourselves to become less emotional- which would mean that it becomes TRUE of you, and hence real... Whether thats a good thing or not, is debatable.

maia the bee said...

TRUE of me specifically, or just in general?

In Search of Tranquility said...

Bee- No just in general !