Use your life to wake you up.
Trying to change ourselves doesn’t work in the long run because we’re resisting our own energy. Self-improvemen t can have temporary results, but lasting transformation occurs only when we honor ourselves as the source of wisdom and compassion.
Constantly apply cheerfulness, if for no other reason than because you are on this spiritual path. Have a sense of gratitude to everything, even difficult emotions, because of their potential to wake you up.
When you have made good friends with yourself, your situation will be more friendly too.
None of us is ever OK, but we all get through everything just fine.
Everybody loves something, even if it’s only tortillas.
Only to the extent that we expose ourselves over and over to annihilation can that which is indestructible in us be found.
Let your curiosity be greater than your fear.
We have a choice. We can spend our whole life suffering because we can’t relax with how things really are, or we can relax and embrace the open-endedness of the human situation, which is fresh, unfixated, unbiased.
Don’t worry about achieving. Don’t worry about perfection. Just be there each moment as best you can. When you realize you’ve wandered off again, simply very lightly acknowledge that. This light touch is the golden key to reuniting with our openness.
When we resist change, it’s called suffering. But when we can completely let go and not struggle against it, when we can embrace the groundlessness of our situation and relax into its dynamic quality, that’s called enlightenment.
If you ask why we meditate, I would say it’s so we can become more flexible and tolerant to the present moment.
Deep down in the human spirit, there is a reservoir of courage. It is always available, always waiting to be discovered.
The essence of our whole path is in that place of discomfort, and what do we do with it?
Whatever happens in your life, joyful or painful, do not be swept away by reactivity. Be patient with yourself and don’t lose your sense of perspective.
The most heartbreaking thing of all is how we cheat ourselves of the present moment.
Everything in our lives has the potential to wake us up or put us to sleep. Allowing it to awaken us is up to us.
Our true nature is like a precious jewel: although it may be temporarily buried in mud, it remains completely brilliant and unaffected. We simply have to uncover it.
Compassion starts with making friends with ourselves.
Things become clear when there is no escape.