Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know.

The most fundamental aggression to ourselves, the most fundamental harm we can do to ourselves, is to remain ignorant by not having the courage and the respect to look at ourselves honestly and gently.

The more we witness our emotional reactions and understand how they work, the easier it is to refrain.

Hope and fear come from feeling that we lack something; they come from a sense of poverty. We can't simply relax with ourselves. We hold on to hope, and hope robs us of the present moment.

Meditation practice isn't about trying to throw ourselves away and become something better. It's about befriending who we are already.

The future is completely open, and we are writing it moment to moment.

Sticking with uncertainty, getting the knack of relaxing in the midst of chaos, learning not to panic—this is the spiritual path.

When things fall apart and we're on the verge of we know not what, the test of each of us is to stay on that brink and not concretize.

Life is glorious, but life is also wretched. It is both. Appreciating the gloriousness inspires us, encourages us, cheers us up, gives us a bigger perspective, energizes us. We feel connected. But if that's all that's happening, we get arrogant and start to look down on others, and there is a sense of making ourselves a big deal and being really serious about it, wanting it to be like that forever. The gloriousness becomes tinged by craving and addiction. On the other hand, wretchedness--life's painful aspect--softens us up considerably. Knowing pain is a very important ingredient of being there for another person.

Whatever is happening is the path to enlightenment.

Fear is a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth.

Only to the extent that we expose ourselves over and over to annihilation can that which is indestructible be found in us.

The most difficult times for many of us are the ones we give ourselves.

The spiritual journey is not about heaven and finally getting to a place that's really swell.

The root of suffering is resisting the certainty that no matter what the circumstances, uncertainty is all we truly have.

We think that the point is to pass the test or overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don't really get solved. They come together and they fall apart. Then they come together again and fall apart again. It's just like that. The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy.

Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It's a relationship between equals.

To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest.

Feelings like disappointment, embarrassment, irritation, resentment, anger, jealousy, and fear, instead of being bad news, are actually very clear moments that teach us where it is that we're holding back.

The trick is to keep exploring and not bail out, even when we find out that something is not what we thought.