I thought it was a stroke of genius that Hans Selye used the word stress, because it's true that if you don't know how to be in wise relationship to life, certain health consequences are bound to happen. If you stand up 12 hours a day on an assembly line, or constantly tell yourself life is not worth living, the body will respond in certain somewhat predictable ways.

I was very much a tough New York street kid. I went to a school where you had to learn how to get along with everybody or fight with everybody, and I did my fair share of both.

Dying without actually fully living, without waking up to our lives while we have the chance, is an ongoing and significant risk.

No one can listen to your body for you... To grow and heal, you have to take responsibility for listening to it yourself.

All the suffering, stress, and addiction comes from not realizing you already are what you are looking for.

Mindfulness is so powerful that the fact that it comes out of Buddhism is irrelevant.

But you cannot have harmony without a commitment to ethical behavior. It's the fence that keeps out the goats that will eat all the young shoots in your garden.