In the same way that we have to clean wax from our ears and dirt from our eyes, we're all asked to clean out our conclusions and judgments, which block our heart from meeting the world.

Whatever difficulty you face, there are time-tried ways you can listen your way through. Because listening is the doorway to everything that matters. It enlivens the heart the way breathing enlivens the lungs. We listen to awaken our heart. We do this to stay vital and alive.

Before we can count we are taught to be grateful for what others do. As we are broken open by our experience, we begin to be grateful for what is, and if we live long enough and deep enough and authentically enough, gratitude becomes a way of life.

The real & lasting practice for each of us is to remove what obstructs us so we can be who we are.

We are broken open, or we willfully shed.

…I keep looking for one more teacher, only to find that fish learn from the water and birds learn from the sky.” (p.275)

To walk quietly until the miracle in everything speaks is poetry, whether we write it down or not.