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

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

The essence of bravery is being without self-deception.

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.

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.

Whatever is happening is the path to enlightenment.

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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 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.

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

Rejoicing in ordinary things is not sentimental or trite. It actually takes guts.

The greatest obstacle to connecting with our joy is resentment.

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

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

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.