Some Good Ones

On this final episode, the Dharma Circle team reflects on a quote from James Baldwin:

“Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within.”

Quotes of the week- 

Monday
"Of all the definitions of love that abound in our universe, a special favorite of mine is “the will to extend one’s self for the purpose of nurturing one’s own or another’s spiritual growth.”
— bell hooks

Tuesday
"Never be limited by other people’s limited imaginations. If you adopt their attitudes, then the possibility won’t exist because you’ll have already shut it out…You can hear other people’s wisdom, but you’ve got to re-evaluate the world for yourself."
— Dr. Mae Jemison

Wednesday
“I’m a firm believer that language and how we use language determines how we act, and how we act then determines our lives and other people’s lives.”
— Ntozake Shange

Thursday
"A lot of people resist transition and therefore never allow themselves to enjoy who they are. Embrace the change, no matter what it is; once you do, you can learn about the new world you're in and take advantage of it."
— Nikki Giovanni

Friday
"There is something in our culture that says your dream ...has to happen immediately  and all at once, and that is destructive to the creative spirit.  I just embraced the idea that this was going to be a gradual exploration… and gave myself permission to go slowly.”
— Ava DuVernay

Saturday
“Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly.”
—Langston Hughes

Sunday
“Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and 
know we cannot live within.”
— James Baldwin

On this episode, the Dharma Circle team reflects on a quote from Peter A. Levine:

“The body has been designed to renew itself through continuous self-correction. These same principles also apply to the healing of psyche, spirit, and soul."

Share your take on our Instagram, or by emailing us at [email protected].

Quotes of the week- 

Monday
“The body has been designed to renew itself through continuous self-correction. These same principles also apply to the healing of psyche, spirit, and soul.” — Peter A. Levine

Tuesday
“The truth will not necessarily set you free, but truthfulness will.” — Ken Wilber

Wednesday
"The more you can be authentic, the happier you're going to be, and life will work itself around that." — Melinda French Gates

Thursday
“We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.” — Joseph Campbell

Friday
“Every time you don’t follow your inner guidance, you feel a loss of energy, loss of power, a sense of spiritual deadness...” — Shakti Gawain

Saturday
“First we make our habits, then our habits make us.”
— John Dryden

Sunday- 
“There’s a place in the soul where you’ve never been wounded.” ― Meister Eckhart

In this episode, the Dharma Circle team reflects on a quote from Robin Williams:

"Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. Always."

Leslie poses a few questions to our listeners at the end of the episode. Let us know your responses on our Instagram, or by emailing us at [email protected].

Quotes of the week- 

Monday
“We need to accept that we don’t always make the right decisions, that we’ll screw up royally sometimes. Understand that failure is not the opposite of success, it’s part of success.”
— Arianna Huffington

Tuesday
"Love the moment, and the energy of that moment will spread beyond all boundaries."
— Corita Kent

Wednesday
"Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. Always."
— Robin Williams

Thursday
"The man who asks a question is a fool for a minute, the man who does not ask is a fool for life."
— Confucius

Friday
"A piece of artwork is never finished. It simply
stops in interesting places."
— Paul Gardner

Saturday
"I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."
— Michael Jordan

Sunday- 
"It is not the end of the physical body that should worry us. Rather, our concern must be to live while we’re alive – to release our inner selves from the spiritual death that comes with living behind a facade designed to conform to external definitions of who and what we are." 
— Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

In this episode, the Dharma Circle team deep dives into quotes by Tupac Shakur and Frank Herbert

"Just because you lost me as a friend doesn't mean you gained me as an enemy. I'm bigger than that. I still wanna see you eat, just not at my table." Tupak Shakur

"Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain." Frank Herbert, Dune

Quotes of the week- 

Monday-
"You can't think yourself into new ways of acting; you can only act yourself into new ways of thinking."
- Marsha Linehan 

Tuesday-
"Just because you lost me as a friend doesn't mean you gained me as an enemy. I'm bigger than that. I still wanna see you eat, just not at my table."
- Tupac Shakur

Wednesday-
"If indeed you must be candid, be candid beautifully."
- Kahlil Gibran 

Thursday-
"Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."
- Frank Herbert, Dune 

Friday-
"To all appearances, the artist acts like a mediumistic being who, from the labyrinth beyond time and space, seeks his way out to a clearing. "
- Marcel Duchamp 

Saturday-
"I could only achieve success in my life through self-discipline, and I applied it until my wish and my will became one.”
- Nikola Tesla

Sunday- 
“Behold but the One in all things; it is the second that leads you astray.”
— Kabir

 In this episode, the Dharma Circle team deep dives into a quote by Ram Dass

 “All you can do for another person is be an environment in which if they wanted to come up for air, they could.” 

Quotes of the week- 

Monday-
“Action is the antidote to despair.”
– Joan Baez

Tuesday-
"I do know one thing about me: I don't measure myself by others' expectations or let others define my worth."
- Justice Sonia Sotomayor

Wednesday-
“All you can do for another person is be an environment in which if they wanted to come up for air, they could.”
- Ram Dass 

Thursday-
"Like the bee gathering honey from many blossoms, those who aspire to sages must take something of wisdom from all the scriptures -- both the great and the small.”
- Uddhava Gita 3.10 translation by Swami Ambikananda Saraswati 

Friday-
"I am my own muse. I am the subject I know best. The subject I want to better."
- Oroma Elewa 

Saturday-
“Habit is the intersection of knowledge (what to do), skill (how to do), and desire (want to do).”
- Stephen R. Covey 

Sunday- 
"I have realized that the past and future are real illusions, that they exist in the present, which is what there is and all there is." 
- Alan Watts

In this episode, the Dharma Circle team deep dives into a quote by Don Miguel Ruiz

“Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness, and drama.”
 

Quotes of the week- 

Monday-
 "Nothing is worth more than laughter. It is strength to laugh and to abandon oneself, to be light. Tragedy is the most ridiculous thing."
- Frida Kahlo

Tuesday-    
“One of the greatest things you have in life is that no one has the authority to tell you what you want to be. You’re the one who’ll decide what you want to be. Respect yourself and respect the integrity of others as well.”
– Jaime Escalante 

Wednesday-
“Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama.”
- Don Miguel Ruiz 

Thursday-
“As a disciple of this earth, I learned from its upright trees that my life should be spent in sweet dedication to the welfare of others.”
- Uddhava Gita 2.38 translation by Swami Ambikananda Saraswati 

Friday-
“There is no doubt that creativity is the most important human resource of all. Without creativity, there would be no progress, and we would be forever repeating the same patterns.”
- Edward de Bono 

Saturday-
“Though we tremble before uncertain futures, may we meet... adversity with strength, may we dance in the face of our fears.”
– Gloria Anzaldúa 

Sunday-
"Know That, by knowing which everything is known." 
- Chandogya Upanishad (misprinted as Mundaka Upanishad 1.1.3)

In celebration of World Peace Day, the Dharma Circle team gathered to reflect together on two questions- What is peace?  What is my part in it? 

As life would have it, the team wasn't feeling particularly peaceful on that day, which ended up sparking some interesting reflections on authenticity, agency, and balance. We also invited in the perspectives of members of the MIU community to add their thoughts into the dialogue, which we dive into in the back half of the episode. 

In this episode, the Dharma Circle team deep dives into a quote by Mary Jo Weaver-

"Spirituality is rooted in desire. We long for something we can neither name nor describe, but which is no less real because of our inability to capture it with words." 

The quotes of the week- 

Monday- 
" What is food to one, is to others bitter poison.” 
- Lucretius

Tuesday- "You best teach others about healthy boundaries by enforcing yours...” 
- Bryant McGill

Wednesday- 
“Only if we understand, will we care. Only if we care, will we help. Only if we help shall all be saved.” 
-Jane Goodall

Thursday- 
“I suggest that the only books that influence us are those for which we are ready, and which have gone a little farther down our own particular path than we have yet got ourselves.” 
- E. M. Forster

Friday- 
“The rhythm of relations of color and size makes the absolute appear in the relativity of time and space.”
- Piet Mondrian

Saturday- 
“Out of our beliefs are born deeds; out of our deeds we form habits; out of our habits grows our character; and on our character, we build our destiny.”
- Henry Hancock

Sunday- 
“Spirituality is rooted in desire. We long for something we can neither name nor describe, but which is no less real because of our inability to capture it with words.”  
- Mary Jo Weaver

Special podcast extra quote-

Untitled poem by Rabindranath Tagore 

Incense yearns to disappear in scent

Scent to cling to incense

Melody seeks to fetter herself in rhythm

While the rhythm flows back to melody

Idea seeks its body in form 

Form its freedom in the idea 

The infinite seeks the touch of the finite

The finite its release in the infinite

What drama is this between creation and destruction?

The ceaseless to and frow between idea and form

Bondage is forever striving after freedom

And freedom seeking rest in bondage

In this episode, the Dharma Circle team deep dives into a quote by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

“Repression is not the way to virtue. When people restrain themselves out of fear, their lives are by necessity diminished. Only through freely chosen discipline can life be enjoyed and still kept within the bounds of reason.”

Quotes of the week-
Monday-
"Bravery is about a willingness to show emotional need”
- Richard Gere

Tuesday-
“Respect yourself and others will respect you.”
– Confucius

Wednesday-
“Practice really hearing what people say. Do your best to get inside their mind.”
- Marcus Aurelius

Thursday-
“I believe that if we really want human brotherhood to spread and increase until it makes life safe and sane, we must also be certain that there is no one true faith or path by which it may spread”
- Adlai E. Stevenson Jr.

Friday-
"For me, the creative process, first of all, requires a good nine hours of sleep a night. Second, it must not be pushed by the need to produce practical applications."
- William N Lipscomb Jr

Saturday-
"Repression is not the way to virtue. When people restrain themselves out of fear, their lives are by necessity diminished. Only through freely chosen discipline can life be enjoyed and still kept within the bounds of reason.”
- Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Sunday- 
"...even as from the waking state experience, there is no materiality in the objects seen in a dream (though while dreaming the objects appear to be solid) this world appears to be material yet, in reality, it is pure consciousness.” 
- Yoga Vasistha 3.15

In this episode, the Dharma Circle team deep dives into quotes by Rumi, Thomas Merton, and Carl Jung

“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.” Rumi

“Life is this simple: we are living in a world that is absolutely transparent and the divine is shining through it all the time. This is not just a nice story or a fable, it is true.” Thomas Merton

“The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves.”- Carl Jung

Quotes of the week- 

Monday- 
“The capacity for delight is the gift of paying attention.” 
- Julia Margaret Cameron

Tuesday- 
"Simply pushing harder within the old boundaries will not do.” 
- Karl Weick

Wednesday- 
“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.” 
- Rumi

Thursday- 
"In the field of activity, it is not desirable to create stress and strain by attempting control either from within or from without. Let everyone proceed naturally, complementing [transcendental consciousness] with the activity of daily routine, and so be sure to win fulfillment.” 
- Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

Friday- 
“The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves.” 
- Carl Jung

Saturday- 
“Develop a train of thought on which to ride. The nobility of your life, as well as your happiness, depends upon the direction in which that train of thought is going.” 
- Laurence J. Peter

Sunday- 
“Life is this simple: we are living in a world that is absolutely transparent and the divine is shining through it all the time. This is not just a nice story or a fable, it is true. ”
- Thomas Merton