I would want to affirm how rare and magnificent and messy it is to be alive, how there is really nothing between us and life, though so many things get in the way, and how our heart is the strongest muscle and resource we have.

We work so hard to get somewhere, to realize a dream, to arrive at some destination, that we often forget that though some satisfaction may be waiting at the end of our endurance and effort, there is great and irreplaceable aliveness in the steps along the way.

Repetition is not failure. Ask the waves, ask the leaves, ask the wind.

We are love. But in an everyday setting we have to make choices. We have limits. We can love everyone and we can't love everyone.

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.

Keeping a commitment to listening has led me to my own growth, beyond any imagined dreams I may have had throughout the years.

Rather than finding heaven on earth, we are asked to release heaven by living on earth.