The grief we carry is part of the grief of the world. Hold it gently. Let it be honored. You do not have to keep it in anymore. You can let go into the heart of compassion; you can weep.

Each moment of every day is new and then it vanishes. Where is that day? Where is that moment?

The things that matter most in our lives are not fantastic or grand. They are the moments when we touch one another.

Wherever you are is the perfect place to awaken. This moment is the exact place to practice compassion and loving awareness. You have all the ingredients to breathe and find freedom just where you are.

When we feel anger toward someone, we can consider that they are a being just like us, who has faced much suffering in life.

You need a community. They remind you when you forget, and you remind them when they forget.

In spiritual life there is no room for compromise. Awakening is not negotiable; we cannot bargain to hold on to things that please us while relinquishing things that do not matter to us. A lukewarm yearning for awakening is not enough to sustain us through the difficulties involved in letting go. It is important to understand that anything that can be lost was never truly ours, anything that we deeply cling to only imprisons us.