Dan Millman Quotes & Sayings

Conscious evolution begins as we take responsibility for clearing our own obstructions. — Dan Millman

When you lose your mind, you'll come to your senses. — Dan Millman

Aim not to win or succeed, but for excellence in the moment. — Dan Millman

Meditation is a valuable exercise, but eventually you have to open up your eyes and look around. — Dan Millman

A flash of enlightenment offers a preview of coming attractions, but when it fades, you will see more clearly what separates you from that state - your compulsive habits, outmoded beliefs, false associations, and other mental structures. Just when our lives are starting to get better, we may feel like things are getting worse - because for the first time we see clearly what needs to be done. — Dan Millman

Be happy now, without reason - or you never will be at all. — Dan Millman

Pain is a relatively objective, physical phenomenon; suffering is our psychological resistance to what happens. Events may create physical pain, but they do not in themselves create suffering. Resistance creates suffering. Stress happens when your mind resists what is ... The only problem in your life is your mind's resistance to life as it unfolds. — Dan Millman

Thoughts naturally arise. The point of meditation is not to banish thoughts but to make peace with them by realizing their lack of substance. — Dan Millman

Every positive change - every jump to a higher level of energy and awareness - involves a rite of passage. Each time to ascend to a higher rung on the ladder of personal evolution, we must go through a period of discomfort, of initiation. I have never found an exception. — Dan Millman

An overnight success usually takes about ten years. - Anonymous — Dan Millman

Have shown you the way of the peaceful warrior, not the way to the peaceful warrior. As long as you tread the way, you are a warrior. — Dan Millman

We all have the archetype inside us of the enlightened being. — Dan Millman

Be gentle with yourself. Think less and feel more. Be as happy as you can. You only have this moment. — Dan Millman

Life was never meant to be a struggle, just a gentle progression from one point to another, much like walking through a valley on a sunny day. - Stuart Wilde — Dan Millman

Those who believe they can and those who believe they can't are both right. - Henry Ford — Dan Millman

This planet is a divine school, and daily life a classroom. Our choice of teachers depends on what we need to learn. — Dan Millman

Wake up! If you knew for certain you had a terminal illness
if you had little time left to live
you would waste precious little of it! Well, I'm telling you ... you do have a terminal illness: It's called birth. You don't have more than a few years left. No one does! So be happy now, without reason
or you will never be at all. — Dan Millman

Sports and sex and movies are not inherently bad - But for you they're addictions, not enjoyments. You use them to distract you from what you know you should do. Break free! — Dan Millman

Freedom from mental distraction equals power. — Dan Millman

Life is not a private affair. A story and its lessons are only made useful if shared. — Dan Millman

We discover our character through decisions under pressure. — Dan Millman

If babies held the same tendency toward self-criticism as adults, they might never learn to walk or talk. Can you imagine infants stomping, 'Aarggh! Screwed up again!' Fortunately, babies are free of self-criticism. They just keep practicing. — Dan Millman

The first step to change,... is accepting your reality right now. Honoring your process. Compassionate self-awareness leads to change; harsh self-criticism only holds the pattern in place, creating a stubborn and defensive Basic Self. Be gentle with yourself as you would with a child. Be gentle but firm. Give yourself the space to grow. But remember that the timing is in god's hands, not yours. page~147 — Dan Millman

Faith is our direct link to universal wisdom, reminding us that we know more than we have heard or read or studied that we have only to look, listen, and trust the love and wisdom of the Universal Spirit working through us all. — Dan Millman

Use whatever knowledge you have but see its limitations. Knowledge alone does not suffice; it has no heart. No amount of knowledge will nourish or sustain your spirit; it can never bring you ultimate happiness or peace. Life requires more than knowledge; it requires intense feeling and constant energy. Life demands right action if knowledge is to come alive. — Dan Millman

Personal and collective awakening are one and the same - when a raindrop joins the sea, the sea also merges with the raindrop. — Dan Millman

Life comes at us in waves. We can't predict or control those waves, but we can learn to surf — Dan Millman

In life, stress happens when you resist ... No matter what comes your way, if you take a rigid position, you experience pain. Never oppose force with force. Instead, absorb it and use it ... Yielding can overcome even a superior force. — Dan Millman

Faith is the courage to live your life as if everything that happens does so for your highest good and learning. Like it or not. — Dan Millman

Tragedy is very different for the warrior and for the fool. — Dan Millman

As a peaceful warrior, I would choose when, where and how I would behave. With that commitment, I began to live the life of a warrior. — Dan Millman

Faith does not rely on knowing anything with certainty. It requires only the courage to accept that whatever happens is for the highest good. — Dan Millman

Our sense of self-worth is the single most important determinant of the health, abundance, and joy we allow into our lives. — Dan Millman

Understanding is the one-dimensional comprehension of the intellect. It leads to knowledge. Realization is three-dimensional - a simultaneous comprehension of head, heart, and instinct. It comes only from direct experience. — Dan Millman

The secret of change consists in concentrating one's energy to create the new, and not to fight against the old. — Dan Millman

Masters of one art have mastered all because they have mastered themselves. With dominion over both mind and muscle, they demonstrate power, serenity, and spirit. They not only have talent for their sport, they have an expanded capacity for life. The experts shine in the competitive arena; the masters shine everywhere. — Dan Millman

Just handle what is in front of you now and the future will take care of itself. Otherwise, you'll spend most of your life wondering which foot you'll use to step off the curb when you're still only halfway to the corner. — Dan Millman

Energy follows thought; we move toward, but not beyond, what we can imagine. What we assume, expect, or believe creates and colors our experience. By expanding our deepest beliefs about what is possible, we change our experience of life. — Dan Millman

Unless someone truly has the power to say no, they never truly have the power to say yes. — Dan Millman

You've become bored to things because they exist only as names to you. The dry concepts of mind obscure your direct perception. — Dan Millman

Ships are safe in harbor, but that's not what ships are for. So set sail on the stormy sea of love. You're going to get soaked at times, but at least you'll know you're alive. — Dan Millman

Dad, once an aspiring architect, drove his own catering truck to feed factory workers in downtown Los Angeles, and mom, with a Mensa IQ and mathematical gifts, served as a bookkeeper and worked in a grocery store while pursuing her calling in music: playing piano and composing songs. Perhaps in a way, part of my drive was to complete their unfulfilled ambitions and dreams, but in my own way. — Dan Millman

The light will disturb us when we're comfortable, and comfort us when we're disturbed. We turn to spirit for help when our foundations are shaking only to find out that it is spirit who is shaking them! — Dan Millman

We all know that life has ups and downs; you've experienced both. And though you can't always control what happens outside you, you can choose how you will respond. You can treat life as a dance rather than a wrestling match. You can become an active participant rather than a victim of circumstance. — Dan Millman

Make peace within, and there will be no one who can overcome you. And no one you will wish to overcome. — Dan Millman

Life is not suffering; it's just that you will suffer it, rather than enjoy it, until you let go of your mind's attachments and just go for the ride freely, no matter what happens. — Dan Millman

If we lose touch with our heart's wisdom, then no method avails; if we love, then nothing else is necessary. — Dan Millman

Life develops what it demands. — Dan Millman

Yes, I did shatter my leg, and it really changed my life, in a way. It wasn't much fun, but it did open me up, and as we all know intuitively, adversity can develop resources. — Dan Millman

Act happy, feel happy, be happy, without a reason in the world. Then you can love, and do what you will. — Dan Millman

Heroes and cowards feel the same fear; heroes just act differently. — Dan Millman

Enlightenment is not an attainment; it is a realization. And when you wake up, everything changes and nothing changes. If a blind man realizes that he can see, has the world changed? — Dan Millman

You get no more and no less than what you believe you deserve. — Dan Millman

Faith means living with uncertainty - feeling your way through life, letting your heart guide you like a lantern in the dark. — Dan Millman

You will fail many times, but in failing you will learn , and in learning you will find your way. — Dan Millman

Before you can see the Light, you have to deal with the darkness. — Dan Millman

My life has been less like a light switch suddenly turning on, and more like a dimmer switch slowly turned up, over time, more in some moments than others. — Dan Millman

Live with a peaceful heart; cultivate a warrior's spirit. — Dan Millman

The universe does not judge us; it only provides consequences and lessons and opportunities to balance and learn through the law of cause and effect. Compassion is the recognition that we are each doing the best we can within the limits of our current beliefs and capacities. — Dan Millman

Our practices - our most spiritual practices - are hanging laundry on the line, raising children, building strong relationships, practicing kindness as much as we can, striving for excellence in the workplace, and developing deeper self-knowledge. I wrote The Four Purposes of Life to assist in these endeavors. — Dan Millman

No matter what we feel or know, no matter what our potential gifts or talents, only action brings them to life. Those of us who only think we understand concepts such as commitment, courage, and love, one day discover that we only know when we act; doing becomes understanding. — Dan Millman

A man's character reveals itself most clearly when he makes a choice under pressure. — Dan Millman

The movements of the highest warriors are relaxed and expansive because they fight for a cause larger than themselves. Only by surrendering to God's will does one find victory in battle and serenity in life. Serafim started pacing again, as he did — Dan Millman

If you don't get what you want, you suffer; if you get what you don't want, you suffer; even when you get exactly what you want, you still suffer because you can't hold on to it forever. — Dan Millman

Process transforms any journey into a series of small steps, taken one by one, to reach any goal. Process transcends time, teaches patience, rests on a solid foundation of careful preparation, and embodies trust in our unfolding potential. — Dan Millman

You don't need to control emotion," he said. "Emotions are natural, like passing weather. Sometimes it's fear, sometimes sorrow or anger. Emotions are not the problem. The key is to transform the energy of emotion into constructive action. — Dan Millman

When you begin your transcendental training, focusing your best efforts, without attachment to outcomes, you will understand the peaceful warrior's way. — Dan Millman

You don't just have a story - you're a story in the making, and you never know what the next chapter's going to be. That's what makes it exciting. — Dan Millman

Sometimes sorrow, sometimes joy. But beneath it all remember the innate perfection of your life unfolding. That is the secret of unreasonable happiness. — Dan Millman

My parents were only one part of my lineage. I also met a number of mentors, one of whom I nicknamed "Socrates" after the ancient Greek, and wrote about in my first book, Way of the Peaceful Warrior. That book emerged in 1980, as a result of travels around the world and decades of preparation, eventually leading to 15 other books written over the years, culminating in my newest offering, The Four Purposes of Life. — Dan Millman

Peaceful warriors have the patience to wait until the mud settles and the water clears. They remain unmoving until the right time, so the right action arises by itself. They do not seek fulfillment, but wait with open arms to welcome all things. — Dan Millman

There are no ordinary moments. — Dan Millman

Someday, in the moment of death, your whole life will pass before you. In a few fractions of a second-because time no longer applies-you will see many incidents from your life in order to learn. You will review your life with two questions in your consciousness: Could I have shown a little more courage in these moments? Could I have shown a little more love? You will see where you let fear stop you from expressing who you are, how you feel, or what you need. You will see whether you were able to expand into these moments, just a little, to show love, or whether you contracted. — Dan Millman

Here and now ... breathe and relax ... in battle and in life — Dan Millman

Wake up! Wake up! Soon the person you believe you are will die - so now, wake up and be content with this knowledge: There is no need to search; achievement leads to nowhere. It makes no difference at all, so just be happy now! Love is the only reality of the world, because it is all One, you see. And the only laws are paradox, humor, and change. There is no problem, never was, and never will be. Release your struggle, let go of your mind, throw away your concerns, and relax into the world. No need to resist life; just do your best. Open your eyes and see that you are far more than you imagine. You are the world, you are the universe; you are yourself and everyone else, too! It's all the marvelous Play of God. Wake up, regain your humor. Don't worry, you are already free!" I — Dan Millman

Nature's way is simple and easy, but men prefer what is intricate and artificial. - Lao Tzu — Dan Millman

Old urges continue to arise, but urges do not matter; only actions do. A warrior is as a warrior does. — Dan Millman

Surrender means accepting this moment, this body, and this life with open arms. Surrender involves getting out of your own way and living in accord with a higher will, expressed as the wisdom of the heart. Far more than passive acceptance, surrender uses every challenge as a means of spiritual growth and expanded awareness. — Dan Millman

But as we mature and begin to grasp that we are often the cause of our own difficulties, we begin a process of compassionate self-observation leading to deeper self-knowledge - denial gives way to authenticity as the light of awareness penetrates our shadow. We come to accept ourselves (and others) as we are rather than as we might want ourselves (or them) to be. And as we embrace the full scope of our humanity, we open the way to genuine growth and transformation. — Dan Millman

Reason has survival value, but when overused at the expense of our intuition, feeling, and spirit, reason cuts us off from discovering our full potential. — Dan Millman

Your fears are not walls, but hurdles. Courage is not the absence of fear, but the conquering of it. — Dan Millman

The time is now, the place is here. Stay in the present. You can do nothing to change the past, and the future will never come exactly as you plan or hope for. — Dan Millman

The warrior is Here, Now. — Dan Millman

My mind is like a pond without ripples. Your mind is full of waves because you feel separated from, and often threatened by, an unplanned, unwelcome occurrence. Your mind is like a pond into which someone has just dropped a boulder! — Dan Millman

You can live a whole life time never being awake. — Dan Millman

Inward spiritual practices such as meditation, breathing techniques and self-analysis generate insights and enhance abilities, but none are so useful as learning to live harmoniously in a committed relationship, being a skillful parent, or juggling the demands of daily life. — Dan Millman

May you find grace as you surrender to life. May you find happiness, as you stop seeking it. May you come to trust these laws and inherit the wisdom of the Earth. May you reconnect with the heart of nature and feel the blessings of Spirit. — Dan Millman

Only the supremely wise and the ignorant do not alter.' Saying — Dan Millman

Stop being so proud of mediocrity; show some spirit! — Dan Millman

It may be true that the unexamined life is not worth living-but neither is the unlived life worth examining. — Dan Millman

A jet plane cannot mow the lawn, but it can fly to distant destinations. Don't worry so much about what you can't do; just do what you can as only you can do it. — Dan Millman

Refine your senses a little more each day; stretch them ... your awareness will pierce deeply into your body and into the world. — Dan Millman

I am a warrior! he snapped. Beyond that, who I am depends on who you want me to be. — Dan Millman

We are here to live moment by moment, and each moment brings a task, a challenge, a goal. It's good to have big goals, but we need to connect the dots between where we are and where we are going, one day, one moment at a time. — Dan Millman

In the real world, those of us who are most productive, successful, and satisfied focus not on fixing feelings or manipulating thoughts, but on what needs to be done-and then doing it-no matter what thoughts or feelings arise. — Dan Millman

When you resist what happens, your mind begins to race; the same thoughts that impinge upon you are actually created by you. — Dan Millman

You are rich if you have enough money to satisfy all your desires. So there are two ways to be rich: You earn, inherit, borrow, beg, or steal enough money to meet all your desires; or, you cultivate a simple lifestyle of few desires; that way you always have enough money. "A peaceful warrior has the insight and discipline to choose the simple way - to know the difference between needs and wants. We have few basic needs but endless wants. Full attention to every moment is my pleasure. Attention costs no money; your only investment is training. That's another advantage of being a warrior, Dan - it's cheaper! The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less." I — Dan Millman

Windows of opportunity open and then close. By staying in the present, handling what's in front of us, and riding the wave of opportunity when it comes, we follow the natural order of things. — Dan Millman

To be authentic literally means to be your own author. — Dan Millman

A warrior doesn't seek pain, but if pain comes, he uses it. — Dan Millman