Adults and children alike would benefit from spending a day in the world of Winnie the Pooh. Here are 21 of my favourite quotes from A.A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh that remind us to live with mindfulness and gratitude and so much more.
Image by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
Do you remember your first childhood book?
Unfortunately, children's books were not a part of my childhood upbringing. I was born in Hong Kong in the late 60s to young twenty-something parents just starting out in their married life and careers. Life was about long work hours to provide for basic family needs.
My parents' generation was not like the hyper-woke version of parenting we have today. They were not versed in infant and childhood development. They worked long hours in blue-collar jobs to make sure that we had a good roof over our heads and food on the table.
I remember brief playtime with them in the evenings when they weren't too tired from work. But there wasn't a habit of bedtime story reading...or any reading of children's books at all.
I discovered the magic of reading and children's books after my family moved from Hong Kong to Canada. Learning English as a second language at the age of 6 meant backtracking on simple beginning reader books and working my way up to story books.
Along the way, I fell in love with the original Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne. The author's gentle storytelling style and the endearing characters he created, captured my imagination and my heart.
The adventures of Christopher Robin and his faithful friends, Pooh, Piglet, Tigger and Eeyore are stories of kindness, friendship and love. Each of the characters embodies thoughts, emotions, insecurities and strengths that children and adults can relate to in our daily life.
The consistent themes of awareness, acceptance, mindfulness and gratitude can be found throughout the book. The simple but true words of A.A. Milne spoken through his characters are immortalized in quotes that continue to teach, uplift and inspire us.
Here are 21 of my favourite quotes from A.A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh that remind us to live with mindfulness and gratitude and so much more.
Image by Klarli Cseke from Pixabay
Reminders On Mindfulness...
“Mindfulness is the awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally. And then I sometimes add in the service of self-understanding and wisdom.” says Jon Kabat-Zinn, founder of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction.
Perhaps why I loved reading A.A. Milne's books is because of the reminders of being in the moment and enjoying the moment. Perhaps that's why Winnie The Pooh is always so Zen.
"Sometimes, if you stand on the bottom rail of a bridge and lean over to watch the river slipping slowly away beneath you, you will suddenly know everything there is to be known.”
- Winnie the Pooh
"Life is a journey to be experienced, not a problem to be solved."
- Winnie The Pooh
"Don't underestimate the value of doing nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can't hear, and not bothering."
- Winnie The Pooh
"How do you spell love?", Piglet. “You don’t spell it… you feel it.”, Winnie The Pooh.
- Winnie the Pooh
“What’s wrong with knowing what you know now and not knowing what you don’t know until later?”
- Winnie the Pooh
“People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.”
- Winnie The Pooh
“Rivers know this: There is no hurry. We shall get there someday.”
- Winnie The Pooh
"Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them."
- Winne The Pooh
Reminders On Gratitude...
Practicing gratitude is to appreciate and recognize what is valuable and meaningful in life. Living with gratitude helps us to connect to others, to nature and to our lives with positivity.
It's easy to take for granted the goodness in life because they are also often the simple things in life. Winnie The Pooh and his friends remind us to value and be grateful for all things big and small.
“Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude.”
- A.A. Milne
“The things that make me different are the things that make me, me.”
- Piglet
"When life throws you a rainy day, play in the puddles."
- Winnie The Pooh
“How lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.”
- Winnie The Pooh
“A little consideration, a little thought for others, makes all the difference.”
- Eeyore
“Any day spent with you is my favourite day. So, today is my new favourite day.”
- Winnie The Pooh
“Could be worse. Not sure how, but it could be.”
- Eeyore
“The sun still shines, even when it’s hiding.”
- Winnie The Pooh
Inspirations On So Much More...
The messages of self-worth, kindness, consideration and love are timelessly relevant. The characters in The World of Winnie The Pooh inspire us to be the best version of ourselves.
“You're braver than you believe and stronger and smarter than you think.”
- Christopher Robin
“You can't stay in your corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes.”
- Winnie The Pooh
“Just because an animal is large, it doesn't mean he doesn't want kindness; however big Tigger seems to be, remember that he wants as much kindness as Roo.”
- Winnie The Pooh
“Love is taking a few steps backward, maybe even more…to give way to the happiness of the person you love.”
- Winnie The Pooh
“A hug is always the right size.”
- Winnie The Pooh
Mindful Activities Worth Starting and Keeping
If you are at the life stage where you have babies and toddlers, I hope you can make story time a part of your routine. Being in the moment with my children lost in the pictures and stories is the best practice of mindfulness.
My own boys are now men. But 20 years ago when they were still babies, I loved reading to them from a wide range of children's books that helped introduce empathy, kindness, mindfulness and gratitude.
Our Favorites were:
Good Night Moon by Margaret Wise Brown is still a #1 Best Seller on Amazon. The little rabbit saying good night to beloved items in his room is a calming exercise in awareness and appreciation.
I Love You Forever by Robert Munsch and Guess How Much I Love you by Sam McBratney are my favourites for expressing the enduring love of parent and child as they grow.
All by Myself and Just Go To Bed by Mercer Mayer (or any of the Little Critter collection) were great books that helped foster independence and self-esteem.
We kept our reading together habit going into children's chapter books and that led to their independent reading habits as teens and adults. It's nice to know that they can enjoy a good book alongside their favourite screentime shows and online games.
In our techno fast-paced world with frantic deadlines and endless to-do lists, take some advice from Winnie The Pooh, “Doing nothing often leads to the very best of something.”
Make time daily for things that matter and live with mindfulness and gratitude.
Learn more behind the story of Winnie-the-Pooh:
The Real-Life Canadian Story of Winnie-the-Pooh - Online Article - cbc.ca
The 15 Most Important Winnie-the-Pooh Quotes - Online Article - news.disney.com
Recommended Books:
The Complete Tales and Poems of Winnie-the-Pooh, A.A. Milne (I recommend getting the hardcover, complete with the beautiful watercolour illustrations of the original illustrator Ernest Howard Shepard.)
Positively Pooh: Timeless Wisdom From Pooh (I love this book for my adult self to remind me of little life pearls of wisdom from excerpts of Winnie The Pooh's adventures.)
I would love to hear your comments!
Who in The World of Winne The Pooh is your spirit animal? Which character do you relate most to?
What is your favourite A.A. Milne quote?
What is your favourite children's book?
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