If you must begin then go all the way, because if you begin and quit, the unfinished business you have left behind begins to haunt you all the time.
Interpretation
Fully commit to your endeavors to avoid the regret of unfinished tasks.
This quote emphasizes the importance of full commitment when undertaking a task or goal. It suggests that starting something only to abandon it can lead to a constant sense of failure or regret, as unfinished business may linger in your mind and affect your peace of mind.
In practice
During a motivational speech about perseverance and commitment.
Meditation _x000D_ practice begins by sitting down and assuming your seat cross-legged on _x000D_ the ground. You begin to feel that by simply being on the spot, your _x000D_ life can become workable and even wonderful. You realize that you are _x000D_ capable of sitting like a king or queen on a throne. The regalness of _x000D_ that situation shows you the... dignity that comes from being still and _x000D_ simple.
The basics teachings of Buddha are about understanding what we are, who we are, why we are. When we begin to realize what we are, who we are, why we are, then we begin to realize what we are not, who we are not, why we are not. We begin to realize that we don't have basic, substantial, solid, fundamental ground that we can exert anymore. We begin to realize that our ideas of security and our concept of freedom have been purely phantom experiences.
Warriorship does not refer to making war on others. Aggression is the source of our problems, not the solution. Warriorship is the tradition of human bravery, or the tradition of fearlessness.
Our life is an endless journey; it is like a broad highway that extends infinitely into the distance. The practice of meditation provides a vehicle to travel on that road. Our journey consists of constant ups and downs.
But again and again, we should reflect back to the darkness of the cocoon. In order to inspire ourselves forward, we must look back to see the contrast with the place we came from. You see, we cannot reject the world of the cocoon - which out which we may create a new cocoon. When we see the suffering that occured in the old cocoon, that inspires us to go forward in our journey of warriorship. It is a journey that is unfolding within us.
Enlightenment is ego's ultimate disappointment.
If I had permitted my failures, or what seemed to me at the time a lack of success, to discourage me I cannot see any way in which I would ever have made progress.
Get into a line that you will find to be a deep personal interest, something you really enjoy spending twelve to fifteen hours a day working at, and the rest of the time thinking about.
And I have this little litany of things they can do. And the first one, of course, is to write - every day, no excuses. It's so easy to make excuses. Even professional writers have days when they'd rather clean the toilet than do the writing.
There's absolutely no limit to what plain, ordinary, working people can accomplish if they're given the opportunity and encouragement to do their best.
If you believe in something and have the strength not to give up, it can happen. I am the living proof it can be done.
The lowest ebb is the turn of the tide.
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