If you do a practice and train your attention to hover in the present, then you will build the internal capacity to do that as needed - at will and voluntarily.

True compassion means not only feeling another's pain but also being moved to help relieve it.

My hope was that organizations would start including this range of skills in their training programs - in other words, offer an adult education in social and emotional intelligence.

Reducing the economic gap may be impossible without also addressing the gap in empathy.

I don't really follow meditation hype. But my impression is that poor studies are cited as "proof" of meditation's benefits, findings that apply to advanced meditators are sometimes touted as accruing to beginners, and, occasionally, some benefits are simply imagined. This may be most true in the business world, where many companies are bringing in teachers who are a bit loose in their use of research as evidence for the usefulness of the method.

The basic premise that children must learn about emotions is that all feelings are okay to have; however, only some reactions are okay.

Our passions, when well exercised, have wisdom; they guide our thinking, our values, our survival.