You do not suffer because things are impermanent. You suffer because things are impermanent and you think they are permanent.
To be loved means to be recognized as existing.
People normally cut reality into compartments, and so are unable to see the interdependence of all phenomena. To see one in all and all in one is to break through the great barrier which narrows one’s perception of reality.
For things to reveal themselves to us, we need to be ready to abandon our views about them.
To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don’t need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself.
Some people live as though they are already dead. There are people moving around us who are consumed by their past, terrified of their future, and stuck in their anger and jealousy. They are not alive; they are just walking corpses.
Waking up this morning, I smile. Twenty-four brand new hours are before me. I vow to live fully in each moment and to look at all beings with eyes of compassion.
In the moment when we are able to smile, to look at ourselves with compassion, our world begins to change.
Reconciliation is to understand both sides; to go to one side and describe the suffering being endured by the other side, and then go to the other side and describe the suffering being endured by the first side.
Anxiety, the illness of our time, comes primarily from our inability to dwell in the present moment.
Silence is essential. We need silence just as much as we need air, just as much as plants need light. If our minds are crowded with words and thoughts, there is no space for us.
Breathing in, I calm body and mind. Breathing out, I smile. Dwelling in the present moment I know this is the only moment.
Be Yourself. Life is precious as it is. All the elements for your happiness are already here. There is no need to run, strive, search, or struggle. Just Be.
Today is the most important day of our lives.
The most important thing that we can do for the healing of our world is to hear inside ourselves, the sounds of the earth crying.
Compassionate listening is to help the other side suffer less. If we realize that other people are the same people as we are, we are no longer angry at them.
At any moment, you have a choice, that either leads you closer to your spirit or further away from it.
We have more possibilities available in each moment than we realize.
The source of a true smile is an awakened mind. Smiling helps you approach the day with gentleness and understanding.
We know how to sacrifice ten years for a diploma, and we are willing to work hard to get a job, a car, a house, and so on. But we have difficulty remembering that we are alive in the present moment, the only moment there is for us to be alive.