10 Quotes to Turn you & me On.

“Eros seizes and shakes my very soul
like the wind on the mountain
shaking ancient oaks.” ~ Sappho

What turns us on? Sex. Food. Adrenaline. 

But what really turns us on? Joy. Feeling genuine. Just being. Appreciating the real things in life. A cool breeze. Love. Coffee. Community. Sunshine.

Or, as the Buddhists would put it, waking up to what is, and serving others, helping to awaken our own innate goodness in the process.

So, in that spirit, here are 10 Hot & Steamy Quotes to Turn you (Truly) On…to Life, to Love, to Service, to Sacrifice, to Sadness, to Truth.

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Regarding our daily life as a sacred ritual turns us on:

“We could learn to stop when the sun goes down and when the sun comes up. We could learn to listen to the wind; we could learn to notice that it’s raining or snowing or hailing or calm. We could reconnect with the weather that is ourselves, and we could realize that it’s sad. The sadder it is, and the vaster it is, the more our heart opens. We can stop thinking that good practice is when it’s smooth and calm, and bad practice is when it’s rough and dark. If we can hold it all in our hearts, then we can make a proper cup of tea.” ~ Pema Chodron

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A life of service, inspired and fueled by compassion, turns us on:

“And while I’m here I’ll do the work.  And what’s the work? To ease the pain of living — everything else, drunken dumbshow.” ~ Allen Ginsberg

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Heartbreaking, unthinking heroism turns us on:

“My son made his mother cry, but saved hundreds of mothers from crying for their children.” Mujahid Ali, the father of Aitzaz, who tackled a suicide bomber, saving the lives of his schoolmates. He was 15. 

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Imagination turns us on. Refusing to give up turns us on:

“Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they’ve been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It’s an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It’s a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.” ~ Muhammad Ali

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Joy, and Pain, Sadness and Love turn us on:

“What do you want out of life?” I asked, and I used to ask that all the time of girls.
“I don’t know,” she said. “Just wait on tables and try to get along.” She yawned. I put my hand over her mouth and told her not to yawn. I tried to tell her how excited I was about life and the things we could do together; saying that, and planning to leave Denver in two days. She turned away wearily. We lay on our backs, looking at the ceiling and wondering what God had wrought when He made life so sad.”  ~ Jack Kerouac

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A sense of humor about ourselves turns us on:

“I’m so glad I never feel important, it does complicate life!” ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

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Fearlessness turns us on.

“This is the lesson: never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.” ~ Winston Churchill

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And, yes, Love turns us on.

“You know you’re in love when you can’t fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.” ~ Dr. Seuss