The simplest and bravest way to counter the plight of disheartenment is to move toward what is precious.

In life as in water, when we curl up or flail we sink. When we spread and go still, we are carried by the largest sea of all: the sea of grace that flows steadily beneath the turmoil of events. And just as fish can't see the ocean they live in, we can't quite see the spirit that sustains us.

Intuitive listening requires us to still our minds until the beauty of things older than our minds can find us.

I was a very driven person, wanting to help and to do good, hopefully to write and teach in a meaningful way - wanting to make change. And I discovered humbly that life was changing me.

The glassblower knows: while in the heat of beginning, any shape is possible. Once hardened, the only way to change is to break.

Even if one glimpses God, there are cuts and splinters and burns along the way.

It is the courage to be authentic that keeps us strong enough to withstand the heartbreak through which enlightenment can occur. And it is by honoring how life comes through us that we get the most out of living, not by keeping ourselves out of the way. The goal is to mix our hands in the earth, not to stay clean.