Loving and accepting ourselves are the ultimate acts of courage.

It's hard to practice compassion when we're struggling with our authenticity or when our own worthiness is off-balance.

We cannot grow when we are in shame, and we can't use shame to change ourselves or others.

Empathy is the antidote to shame.

It’s no longer a question of can I do it. It’s a question of: Do I want to do it?

A good life happens when you stop and are grateful for the ordinary moments that so many of us just steamroll over to try to find those extraordinary moments.

I define vulnerability as uncertainty, risk and emotional exposure. With that definition in mind, let’s think about love. Waking up every day and loving someone who may or may not love us back, whose safety we can’t ensure, who may stay in our lives or may leave without a moment’s notice, who may be loyal to the day they die or betray us tomorrow—that’s vulnerability.