As meditation deepens, compulsions, cravings and fits of emotion begin to lose their power to dictate our behavior. We see clearly that choices are possible; we can say yes or we can say no. It is profoundly liberating.

When we meditate every morning we are putting on armor for the day's battle against our own impatience, inadequacy, resentment, and hostility.

We have to have a purpose greater than the endless struggle to satisfy personal desires.

Instead of looking at difficulties as deprivations, we can learn to recognize them as opportunities for deepening and widening our love.

We become in part what our senses take in.

The ancestor of every destructive action, every destructive decision, is a negative thought.

The Sufis advise us to speak only after our words have managed to pass through three gates. At the first gate, we ask ourselves, 'Are these words true?' If so, we let them pass on; if not, back they go. At the second gate, we ask, 'Are the necessary?' At the last gate, we ask, 'Are they kind?'