Living consciously is seeking to be aware of everything that bears on our interests, actions, values, purposes, and goals. It is the willingness to confront facts, pleasant or unpleasant. It is the desire to discover our mistakes and correct them . . . it is the quest to keep expanding our awareness and understanding, both of the world external to self and the world within.

The first step toward change is awareness. The second step is acceptance.

It is impressive to see a person who has been battered by life in many ways, who is torn by a variety of unsolved problems, who may be alienated from many aspects of the self-but who is still fighting, still struggling, still striving to find the path to a fulfilling existence, moved by the wisdom of knowing, "I am more than my problems."

The ultimate test of our integrity is not how we deal with those whom we agree but how we deal with those who we do not agree.

You have a right to your feelings. Your feelings are there to tell you something, but they are not infallible guides to behavior.

What is guilt? It is moral self-reproach-I did wrong when it was possible to have done otherwise.

Suffering is just about the easiest of all human activities; being happy is just about the hardest. And happiness requires, not surrender to guilt, but emancipation from guilt.