Do not engage intrusive thoughts and feelings. Cut them off at the start. Endure the trial of yourself and your own faults and sins peacefully, serenely, because you know that God’s mercy is greater than your wretchedness. Be merciful with yourself and with others. Think and talk about things no more than necessary. Flee imagination, analysis, figuring things out. ~ Protopresbyter Thomas Hopko
You’ve got to get out of your head and go into your heart. Right now your thoughts are in your head, and God seems to be outside you. Your prayer and all your spiritual exercises also remain exterior. As long as you are in your head, you will never master your thoughts, which continue to whirl around your head like snow in a winter’s storm or like mosquitoes in the summer’s heat. If you descend into your heart, you will have no more difficulty. Your mind will empty out and your thoughts will dissipate. Thoughts are always in your mind chasing one another about, and you will never manage to get them under control. But if you enter into your heart and can remain there, then every time your thoughts invade, you will only have to descend into your heart and your thoughts will vanish into thin air. This will be your safe haven. Don’t be lazy. Descend. You will find life in your heart. There you must live. ~ St. Theophan the Recluse
Thoughts are like airplanes flying in the air. If you ignore them, there is no problem. If you pay attention to them, you create an airport inside your head and permit them to land! ~ Elder Paisios of Mount Athos
When the mind (nous) is not scattered in worldly things and is united to God, then the “Good day” that we say becomes a blessing. ~ Gerontissa Gavrielia