3 Motivational Quotes from Ancient Monks You Need Right Now

Many people hearing the word-combination “ancient monk” imagine someone with an expressionless face, shoulder depression, and a bald patch — an image learned from ancient paintings.

These paintings, of course, are only a representation and don’t portray real people.

Moreover, the pictures don’t capture the less known part of these monks’ spiritual lives. Many of them left a rich writing legacy that reflected their daily thoughts, struggle, and love for God.

Although their writing is only the tip of an iceberg, it provides a glimpse into the hearts of one of the most spiritual people in the entire history.

We live in historic and challenging times. I can’t even count how many times during this year, I felt down, lost, annoyed, with no desire for life, and I know that many of you probably felt the same.

So I thought I’d share some of the quotes that will help you go through this winter. At least, they helped me to re-think some aspects of my life.

Why not learn to enjoy the little things-there are so many of them.

– John Chrysostom

It seems so obvious.

Yet, we tend to forget that little things can make our day.

We dream of travel around the world, becoming famous and rich, and living a life filled with purpose.

While all these things are great, many hate their lives because they don’t have them and forget that there are so many little things that can still make you happy. A cup of warm coffee, a smile on the face of somebody you love, kind words, laughter, friends, Friday nights, and a walk in a park after lunch — all of these things seem small on a life scale. But would there be life without them?

Now, we have more possibilities than ever to reunite with ourselves and our family members. So why not use this time to learn how to enjoy little things?

Happiness can only be achieved by looking inward and learning to enjoy whatever life has, and this requires transforming greed into gratitude.

– John Chrysostom

Information today is everywhere.

On average, our brains process 34 GB of information daily. This includes mobile phones, the Internet, email, TV, radio, social media, and news.

Information overload leads to anxiety and stress and, hence, lower levels of happiness. Besides, the increased use of social media leads to dissatisfaction and unhappiness. It’s hard not to compare your life to the lives of Instagram models and their rich boyfriends spending all their days drinking cocktails on expensive boats.

The best way to cut yourself off from the negative influence of information overload is by focusing on your inner self. Each of us has an enormous potential hidden even from ourselves under all the fears, complexes, and gigabytes of (mostly) useless information.

You need to start looking inside of you instead of outside. Treasures are waiting for you. You only need to discover them. And once you do, your soul will be filled with gratitude.

Love and say it with your life.

– Saint Augustine

It’s easier said than done.

But life without love is miserable.

One mistake many tend to make when talking about love is taking it as a romantic concept only. While one face of love is definitely romantic, it has other fronts too and deeper meanings.

For example, true friendship, passion for what you do, and love for your children are all non-romantic types of love, but as important in our lives as a romantic life.

We need to seek and foster love in every aspect of our lives, where there is a chance for personal growth and giving everything you have. Love can permeate everything you do, if only you allow it to do so.

Open your heart and mind. Try to look at familiar things with new eyes. Make some room for love in your heart. And your life will be different.

Again, we are going through difficult times. The winter has just started, and there will be many days that will try to put us down. Let’s not allow them. Love is everywhere, and happiness is within reach. The only thing we need to do is to understand that true happiness is hidden in us. In fact, it’s always been there.

Maybe it is time we discover simple ways to happiness?

Originally published at http://happygofar.com on November 12, 2020.