By far the most important form of attention we can give our loved ones is listening... True listening is love in action.

Not only do self-love and love of others go hand in hand but ultimately they are indistinguishable.

While I generally find that great myths are great precisely because they represent and embody great universal truths, the myth of romantic love is a dreadful lie. Perhaps it is a necessary lie in that it ensures the survival of the falling-in-love experience that traps us into marriage. But as a psychiatrist I weep in my heart almost daily for the ghastly confusion and suffering that this myth fosters. Millions of people waste vast amounts of energy desperately and futilely attempting to make the reality of their lives conform to the unreality of the myth.

The problem of unmet expectations in marriage is primarily a problem of stereotyping. Each and every human being on this planet is a unique person. Since marriage is inevitably a relationship between two unique people, no one marriage is going to be exactly like any other. Yet we tend to wed with explicit visions of what a “good” marriage ought to be like. Then we suffer enormously from trying to force the relationship to fit the stereotype and from the neurotic guilt and anger we experience when we fail to pull it off.

The key to community is the acceptance, in fact the celebration of our individual and cultural differences. It is also the key to world peace

Nirvana or lasting enlightenment or true spiritual growth can be achieved only through persistent exercise of real love.

Emotional sickness is avoiding reality at any cost. Emotional health is facing reality at any cost.