Alanna Thornton’s Reviews > The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World > Status Update

“Acceptance-whether we believe in God or not allows us to move into the fullness of joy. It allows us to engage with life on its own terms rather than rail against the fact that life is not as we would wish.”

“We converged on eight pillars of joy. Four were qualities of the mind: perspective, humility, humor, and acceptance. Four were qualities of the heart: forgiveness, gratitude, compassion, and generosity.”

“I often felt like, for these two men, holiness and lightheartedness were indivisible.”

In the land of Gandhi that we were in, I thought of his totemic words when asked if he was a Hindu: "Yes I am. I am also a Christian, a Muslim, a Buddhist, and a Jew." We were looking for human truth, and we would drink from the cup of wisdom from whatever source it came.

Oh how lovely

“I've never been quite sure where meditation ends and prayer begins, or where prayer ends and meditation begins. I have heard it said that prayer is when we speak to God, and meditation is when God answers.
Whether it is God answering or some wiser part of our own intelligence, I am not sure it mattered to me, as I was just trying to quiet the inner noise and listen through the thick and enveloping silence.”

“Marriages, even the best ones —perhaps especially the best ones-are an ongoing process of spoken and unspoken forgiveness.” <3

"I prefer, after my death," the Dalai Lama said with a laugh, "that you search for my reincarnation, that you carry the investigation rather than an antireligious, atheistic, Communist government."

Lol