I used to think that to become free you had to practice like a samurai warrior, but now I understand that you have to practice like a devoted mother of a newborn child. It takes the same energy but has a completely different quality. It's compassion and presence rather than having to defeat the enemy in battle.

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.

Use whatever has come to awaken patience, understanding, and love.

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

Life is so hard, how can we be anything but kind?

Without being aware of it, you take many things as being your identity: your body, your race, your beliefs, your thoughts.

It does not matter whether you have religion or are an agnostic believe in nothing, You can only appreciate (without knowing or understanding) the mysteries of life.