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

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

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

As long as our orientation is toward perfection or success, we will never learn about unconditional friendship with ourselves, nor will we find compassion.

The truth you believe and cling to makes you unavailable to hear anything new.

We don't set out to save the world; we set out to wonder how other people are doing and to reflect on how our actions affect other people's hearts.

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

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

The only reason we don't open our hearts and minds to other people is that they trigger confusion in us that we don't feel brave enough or sane enough to deal with.

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

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.

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.

Rather than letting our negativity get the better of us, we could acknowledge that right now we feel like a piece of shit and not be squeamish about taking a good look.

The greatest obstacle to connecting with our joy is resentment.

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

If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher.

You are the sky. Everything else is just the weather.

Whatever is happening is the path to enlightenment.

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

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