It is our commitment to wholeness that matters, the willingness to unfold in every deep aspect of our being.
This life is a test-it is only a test. If it had been an actual life, you would have received further instructions on where to go and what to do. Remember, this life is only a test.
Much of spiritual life is self-acceptance, maybe all of it.
If you put a spoonful of salt in a cup of water it tastes very salty. If you put a spoonful of salt in a lake of fresh water the taste is still pure and clear. Peace comes when our hearts are open like the sky, vast as the ocean.
A second quality of mature sirituality is kindness. It is based on a fundamental notion of self-acceptance...
To undertake a genuine spiritual path is not to avoid difficulties but to learn the art of making mistakes wakefully, to bring them to the transformative power of our heart.
Forgiveness is primarily for our own sake, so that we no longer carry the burden of resentment. But to forgive does not mean we will allow injustice again.
The independence and rebelliousness of our adolescence offer us yet another quality essential to our practice; the insistence that we find out the truth for ourselves, accepting no one’s word above our own experience.
Tending to ourselves, we tend the world. Tending the world, we tend ourselves.
We each need to make our lion’s roar – to persevere with unshakable courage when faced with all manner of doubts and sorrows and fears – to declare our right to awaken.
As we encounter new experiences with a mindful and wise attention, we discover that one of three things will happen to our new experience: it will go away, it will stay the same, or it will get more intense. whatever happens does not really matter.
Every individual has a unique contribution.
In our charade with ourselves we pretend that our war is not really war. We have changed the name of the War Department to the Defense Department and call a whole class of nuclear missiles Peace Keepers!
Train your mind the same way you’d train a puppy: Be patient, be consistent, and have some fun along the way.
To see the preciousness of all things, we must bring our full attention to life.
As surely as there is a voyage away, there is a journey home.
The task is not to perfect yourself, it’s to perfect your love.
You need a community. They remind you when you forget, and you remind them when they forget.
We are awakened to the profound realization that the true path to liberation is to let go of everything.
The best of modern therapy is much like a process of shared meditation, where therapist and client sit together, learning to pay close attention to those aspects and dimensions of the self that the client may be unable to touch on his or her own.