~ Melody Beattie

You have the possibility to enjoy each moment. Look at the trees and plants that you see around you. They are the ones that made it. They came from the wisdom of the seed that grew. There were other seeds that didn't grow. They were in the same place as the trees you see, but they didn't take. You can be a seed that grows.

The whole world around us is made from what grew, not what didn't. Don't pay attention to what isn't. Pay attention to what is. So, what is?

In the middle of our pain, our suffering, we have this life, this body. In the middle of all that, there is the breath that is coming in and out. We need to pay attention to that, to what is, not to the time that has passed. That's gone.

We don't have the time that hasn't come yet, either. We only have today. Tomorrow will come, and what will happen then? A breath will come and then another breath will come. The coming and going of this breath is the gift. It's not about what's gone; it's about appreciating this life, one breath at a time.

It's about you "your life" not the life of the other people around you. It's just about you.

_

"To be a student of life means, first of all, to create a space amidst the jungle of ideas that surrounds us. When that space is created then you can learn."

We are expression of earth, and of life - not separate individuals only. We cannot get enough away from the earth to see the earth and ourselves as separates. We move with its great movements and our growth is part of its great growth.

Kahil Gibran

The practicality of Macrobiotics is that it can be practiced by anyone, anywhere, every day. It does not require a special time taken from everyday life to practice it. It is an integral part of everyday life. For these reasons, it is the ultimate self-improvement vehicle.

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How to be healthy and happy? By understanding what life in this universe is all about. How to understand this complex universe? By reducing everything into yin and yang. Doing so gives us a framework, a point of reference.

This can be extremely useful. And fascinating.

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The aim of macrobiotics is to cure the illnesses of the soul; but for that, physical illnesses cannot cure. It is after the work of the soul that we can absorb correct foods; and it is this soul that cures illnesses.You have understood that it is not macrobiotics that cures, but the understanding of the philosophy. It is not rice or gomasio, but the attention of our mind that gives us will, and recovery occurs within a few days.

George Ohsawa

Macrobiotics is not a fad or trend, it's a fundamental and traditional way of living. Many people think of Macrobiotics as a radical theory or an extreme diet. However, this is not accurate. Some people think the practice of Macrobiotics is simply a trend. But Macrobiotics is not a fad or trend, it's a basic traditional way of living, providing fundamental principles of how to live in harmony with nature.

Shuzo Okada

"The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease."

Thomas Edison

Education is the act of drawing out the truth.
The Latin word educare, means to grow or bring forth. Education involves open inquiry, patience, experimentation, honesty, and the ability to know you don't know.
The opposite of this process is indoctrination. Indoctrination is putting in - not drawing out.
It is an imposing of information, not a search for truth, it empowers the teacher not the student.

For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.

Nelson Mandela

When it comes to food always remember that mass popularity equals lowest quality.”

Herman Aihara

"One grain, ten thousand grains."

For every seed the Earth receives, it returns thousands Nature operates according the principles of "one grain, ten thousand grains"
For every seed, the Earth receives, it returns thousands. Nature is forever productive, and infinitely diverse.

In the practice of genetic engineering, ten thousand seeds are sacrificed for every one that comes to market, or "from ten-thousand grains, come one grain."

Originally, the heirloom seeds that sustained humanity over the centuries cost nothing; they were given freely by nature. Each genetically engineered seed cost $300 million to bring to market.

We now face a choice between two opposite views of life, one natural, the other artificial. The earth and happiness of all species, could well depend upon which of these two path we choose.

Ed Esko

"your body is precious. It is your vehicle for awakening. Treat it with care"
- Buddha

Compassion sets in and this "thing" macrobiotics becomes alive. It is not a narrow-minded way of eating, a Japanese cult, an exclusive sect, or just for the sick. It's life as it is, in its fullest expression of the soul, the individual and the collective one, with an opportunity to
express itself, to be present in all our doings, and in all the ways we manifest ourselves.

There is no good or bad. Once something is being expressed, it is always an expression of our soul. It's the source of creative life, endlessly powerful, always giving, always available, and
capable of creating and sharing love.

The soul knows no limitations of language, culture, race, religion, and personal preference. Once in motion, we allow ourselves to be as individual as we can be, yet no separation is created. The uniqueness of individuality becomes the binding power and we not only have no inhibitions to acknowledge each other, we are compelled to do it, naturally, without thinking, here and now.

Mario Binetti

There are so many things that modern people don't know.

We don't know what food is.
We don't know where food comes from.
We don't know what fire is.
We don't know where fire comes from.
We don't know how to create a fire.
We don't know what a shelter is.
We don't know what it is to live without a shelter, and
we don't know how to make our own shelter.
We really don't know what our clothing is. Most of us have no experience in creating clothing or knowing how to turn cloth into clothing.
We don't know what it is to go from one place to another without using machinery.
We don't know how to walk.
We don't know how to make ourselves well if we're sick.
This is all stuff that's been said over and over, but it strikes me so strongly, how little we know about these very simple basic things. -

- Duncan Sim East West Journal Interview, July 1977

In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.

Albert Einstein

When we see the sun and moon, the sky and stars, mountains and rivers, seas and forests, fields and valleys, birds and animals, and all the wonders of nature, let us remember that we have come with them all from the infinite universe. Let us be thankful for our environment on earth and live in harmony with all that surrounds us.

The most important thing you can teach anyone is to think for yourself when making a decision about diet and lifestyle.

Michio Kushi

Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch yours words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character.
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny

Frank Outlaw

"You already have the precious mixture that will make you well. Use it."
Rumi

The meaning of life is the celebration of it.

The journey of a thousand miles begins with one footstep.
-Lao tzu

Pity the nation that wears a cloth it does not weave, eats a bread it does not harvest, and drink a wine that flows not from its own winepress

Kahil Gibran

Be thankful for the simple little things... thoughts on the origin of our foods,Where it comes from, the growth and unfolding of the seed, and the mystery of the seed itself.

The law of nature are the laws of health and who lives according to these laws is never sick...

Eat not unclean foods brought from far countries, but eat always that which your trees bear" Jesus, from the essene.

Gospel of Peace

A recognition of the importance of food and a deep concern about it as a factor in human life lie at the heart of macrobiotics.

There is, though, a growing consciousness that the food man eats is only one type of nourishment.

Art, music, ideas, emotions and social relationships are also “food” and play a crucial role in human health and well-being.

People are realizing that care and energy must be spent on all of these types of food if one is to become truly healthy; that in its meaning of “great life” macrobiotics involves a well-rounded, not a food-obsessed, way of living.

Ronald E. Koetzsch, Ph.D.