I love a good quote. I always have. They are instant trips to center. Powerful word fossils—little nuggets of other people’s momentary connection to Life frozen in words for future readers to liberate and enjoy.
Growing up a Christian, I became familiar with many quotes from the Bible. In high school I would scrawl pithy phrases on the covers of my notebooks -- though, admittedly, these were mostly from the lyrics of new wave bands with a smattering of literary quotes tossed in for good measure. In college I was elated to be able to write in my books, where I began to underline quotes and mark up the margins with my enthusiasm.
Somewhere along the way this love of perfectly phrased bits of wisdom started to become something I sought out—a practice. I was terrible at remembering quotes, so I decided to just set it up so I was always encountering new ones. I subscribe to several email lists where I receive quotes each day, including our Sangha’s Daily Peace Quotes. When we started the Recording and Listening practice, I began to record the quotes in these emails each morning.
Over time, this has shifted into reading a quote into the recorder and then talking about it. I feel the spark of connection and expound on what it means to me or how it makes me feel. I reflect on how the quote is applicable to my life or the greater world right now. I rest in remembering what is true.
I also sometimes get to see when conditioning is the one reading the quote. When “I” don’t agree with what it says or how someone has said something, I quickly notice that. I can watch the hackles go up and get to talk that through on the recorder, too.
I have 82 minutes and 15 seconds of quote recordings on my current recorder. And I think this is my third recorder since we started Recording and Listening! It’s very fun to revisit not just the quotes but also my enthusiasm for them.
Do you have a quote practice? Try it—you’ll like it. And you can quote me on that.
Gassho,
Jenn B.