I once read that forgiveness is giving up all hope of having had a different past...but forgiving is not the same as obliterating memory.

Imagine what you'd do if it absolutely didn't matter what people thought of you. Got it? Good. Never go back.

Remember, intimacy increases with honesty. Share less to keep people away and more to draw them closer.

This is the part of us that makes our brief, improbable little lives worth living: the ability to reach through our own isolation and find strength, and comfort, and warmth for and in each other. This is what human beings do. This is what we live for, the way horses live to run.

Learning to let go of expectations is a ticket to peace. It allows us to ride over every crisis—small or large, brother-in-law or end-of-quarter office lockdown—like a beach ball on water. The next time a problem arises in your life, take a deep breath, let out a sigh, and replace the thought Oh no! with the thought Okay.

Imagine the choices you'd make if you had no fear-of falling, of losing, of being alone, of disapproval.

Most unhappy people need to learn just one lesson: how to see themselves through the lens of genuine compassion, and treat themselves accordingly.