The independence and rebelliousness of our adolescence offer us yet another quality essential to our practice; the insistence that we find out the truth for ourselves, accepting no one's word above our own experience.

If you put a spoonful of salt in a cup of water it tastes very salty. If you put a spoonful of salt in a lake of fresh water the taste is still pure and clear. Peace comes when our hearts are open like the sky, vast as the ocean.

May I be given the appropriate difficulties so that my heart can truly open with compassion. Imagine asking for that.

In a society that almost demands life at double time, speed and addictions numb us to our own experience. In such a society, it is almost impossible to settle into our bodies or stay connected with our hearts, let alone connect with one another or the earth where we live.

We have only now, only this single eternal moment opening and unfolding before us, day and night.

Buddhists were actually the first cognitive-behavioral therapists.

In the end, just three things matter: How well we have lived How well we have loved How well we have learned to let go