"Paul Tillich has a beautiful formulation: “Language . . . has created the word ‘loneliness’ to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word ‘solitude’ to express the glory of being alone.” Loneliness is painful, emotionally and even physically, born from a “want of intimacy” when we need it most, in early childhood. Solitude—the capacity to be contentedly and constructively alone—is built from successful human connection at just that time. But if we don’t have experience with solitude—and this is often the case today—we start to equate loneliness and solitude. This reflects the impoverishment of our experience. If we don’t know the satisfactions of solitude, we only know the panic of loneliness." - Sherry Turkle, Reclaiming Conversation
"Meditation, or samadhi, is connected with the idea of overcoming the constant search for entertainment. By overcoming that, you begin to cut through the subconscious mind, the mind that provides obstacles to meditation practice. Having done so, you begin to develop a state of absorption in the sense of complete presence. The idea of samadhi is meditation from which there is no break. A break is not needed because, in its essence, meditation is already a break from samsara." Chogyam Trungpa, The Path of Individual Liberation
"When it comes to life the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude." --G K. Chesterton
I heard something a similar, but maybe a bit sadder "Everything you love will die." I guess that's a morbid way to say, appreciate those that you love today because no living thing is here forever.
Not sure about you, but I practiced stoicism before I knew what it was. Now, I am happy to say I'm a stoic. Ryan Holiday does a good job on his site of keeping the practice relevant.