We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
[B]-Aristotle.[/B]
What an amazing quote! Thank you for sharing:)
“Watch your thoughts, for they become words.
Watch your words, for they become actions.
Watch your actions, for they become habits.
Watch your habits, for they become character.
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.”
~Upanishads
Excellent quote, thanks.
Excellent quote Ray.
Having studied Yoga Sutra a bit, the main thrust of Raja Yoga practice appears on pranayama and thinking. Since thinking is a non-stop process and at a risk of afflictions in all ‘non-deep sleep’ hours, its runaway trail has to be first broken, then spaced out, then occassional “pause” in thoughts and finally some control. This is in our own personal theatre, where we are the surgeons and we are the patients. This is as real a Yoga practice as asana and pranayama is. But it is tough, habits are stubborn and the avalanche of thoghts is sweeping. As the Upanishads say so nicely, thoughts do shape our destiny. But, dealing with own thoughts is so unglamorous. Wish Yoga teachers make it otherwise.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
-Aristotle.
And most importantly, we all have the power to change what we do 
If the student has understood the meaning of the four words in this Sutra he will see that it defines in a masterly manner the essential nature of Yoga. The effectiveness of the definition lies in the fact that it covers all stages of progress through which the Yogi passes and all stages of unfoldment of consciousness which are the result of this progress . . .
YOGA SUTRAS OF PATANJALI - THE SCIENCE OF YOGA by I. K. TAIMNI
karmic benevolence!
[QUOTE=ray_killeen;65192]?Watch your thoughts, for they become words.
Watch your words, for they become actions.
Watch your actions, for they become habits.
Watch your habits, for they become character.
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.?
~Upanishads[/QUOTE]
Ray: Is there a source that links this quote to the Upanishads?
[QUOTE=yogacracy;65552]Ray: Is there a source that links this quote to the Upanishads?[/QUOTE]
My source was an Indian coworker who sits in the cubicle next to me ?Amar Mishra?, he knows Sanskrit but I don?t, I took his word for it. When I Google the phrase it comes up ?Upanishads? as the source and sometimes ?Anonymous?? Unless one is fluent in Sanskrit and has access to the oldest carbon dated record of the quote we?ll have to live on borrowed knowledge of the source?
What is lost in translation can be recouped by experience.
Perhaps less attention to the messenger and more to the message
Great quote, thanks for sharing.
[QUOTE=Kiki;65163]We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
[B]-Aristotle.[/B][/QUOTE]
I disagree. Excellence is merely a concept, has no embodied ground in reality. Anything could be excellent depending how you interpret it.
We simply [I]are[/I]. Nothing more.