No amount of meditation, yoga, diet, and reflection will make all of our problems go away, but we can transform our difficulties into our practice until little by little they guide us on our way.

When we let go of our battles and open our heart to things as they are, then we come to rest in the present moment. This is the beginning and the end of spiritual practice. Only in this moment can we discover that which is timeless. Only here can we find the love that we seek. Love in the past is simply memory, and love in the future is fantasy. Only in the reality of the present can we love, can we awaken, can we find peace and understanding and connection with ourselves and the world.

A second quality of mature sirituality is kindness. It is based on a fundamental notion of self-acceptance.

Our ideas of self are created by identification. The less we cling to ideas of self, the freer and happier we will be.

It is our commitment to wholeness that matters, the willingness to unfold in every deep aspect of our being.

Within each of us there is a silence as vast as the universe. We long for it. We can return to it.

In Buddhist practice, the outward and inward aspects of taking the one seat meet on our meditation cushion.