What Matters Most?
Following 10 years of asking this question to amazing guests, I have put together some of the most profound and interesting responses. These are truly wonderful insights that can help us on our journey of personal growth and happiness as we embark on our 4 week course together.
Jon kabat-zinn - father of modern mindfulness
“What matters most to me is deep connectivity, which I call love. There are an infinite number of ways in which love can manifest, but ultimately it's this seeing that we are not separate, that there is a kind of distributive beauty in living and in life that is extraordinary. In the midst of all of the horror, in the midst of the grief, the trauma, the failure, the fear - and that what matters most is to live the life that is ours to live in a way that has integrity and in ways thats its embodied, that is in some sense an adventure in connectivity, in relationality, in marvelling at the actuality of things, not being anaesthetised by what you see all the time so that you don't see it any more, what you experience in your everyday life, so that you don't experience or feel anymore, but to keep re-coming back to that aliveness and that element of you that knows, that sees what's here to be seen, it's a miracle, hearing what's here to be heard, it's a miracle, feeling what's here to be felt”.
Daniel Goleman - emotional intelligence
“What makes life meaningful is being able to turn things in a better direction. In whatever way our particular position, our particular skill set, and our particular sphere of influence allows, each of us has some impact that we can make. What the Dalai Lama urges is act now in whatever way you can, in whatever you are most passionate about, whatever you are best at, whatever will make the most difference - And that’s very different for each of us but do it now.
Even if you wont see the fruits of your own action in your own lifetime, get that force going in the right direction, I think that is what makes life meaningful".
Andy Puddicombe - HEADSPACE
‘‘I think the genuine intention to benefit others. It sounds cliché and it may not always be what first comes to mind, but when we focus on the happiness of those around us, we are more happy ourselves.
Just trying to come back to that as an idea, whether it’s through our meditation practice, whether it’s in everyday life, whether it’s through our family life, whatever, by coming back to that idea that, it’s not my happiness and your happiness, it’s our happiness. It’s not your sadness or my sadness, it’s our sadness. And once we start thinking about it in that way, the world starts to change internally and externally we start to see a shift in our communities’’
Dr. willem kuyken - The oxford mindfulness center
“I think what really matters for me, more and more with time, is actually making a positive difference for other people. Whether that's students that I work with, or patients that I work with, or colleagues that I work with, in my immediate circle or in terms of my science, doing science that will actually have an impact and make a difference.So I’m very proud of the body of work that suggests that MBCT might provide an alternative for the, literally millions of people who are on antidepressants. So to provide that choice, that option for people feels like a piece of work that is of value and of benefit to other people. And the same thing, you know when I see my children or colleagues thriving and I think, have I played some small part in enabling that to happen? That gives me great joy.”
Dr. Russ harris - The happiness trap
“It’s my loved ones. That’s what it all boils down to. The people you love and being as loving as you can to the people you love - nothing else really matters in the long term’’.
Richard Davidson - neuroscientist
‘’Be kind to others - we need to understand that all human beings share our same wish to be happy and free of suffering and when we are able to take that kind of perspective, I think it helps us to get along better with others, and when that occurs it reinforces each others happiness and I think the whole the community will benefit.’’