We need to learn how to honor and use a practice for as long as it serves us—which in most cases is a very long time—but to look at it as just that, a vehicle, a raft to help us cross through the waters of doubt, confusion, desire, and fear.

It is hard to imagine a world without forgiveness. Without forgiveness life would be unbearable. Without forgiveness our lives are chained, forced to carry the sufferings of the past and repeat them with no release.

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

The waves do keep coming, so learn to surf.

Breathing meditation can quiet the mind, open the body, and develop a great power of concentration.

Only a deep attention to the whole of our life can bring us the capacity to love well and live freely.

It is true that the heart has its seasons, just as a flower opens to the sunlight and closes to the night. We need to be respectful of those rhythms. But we can't close down for long. It is our true nature to have an open heart.