Like all explorers, we are drawn to discover what's out there without knowing yet if we have the courage to face it.

What happens with you when you begin to feel uneasy, unsettled, queasy? Notice the panic, notice when you instantly grab for something. (51)

The most important aspect of being on a spiritual path may be to just keep moving.

Buddhist words such as compassion and emptiness don't mean much until we start cultivating our innate ability simply to be there with pain with an open heart and the willingness not to instantly try to get ground under our feet. For instance, if what we're feeling is rage, we usually assume that there are only two ways to relate to it. One is to blame others. Lay it all on somebody else; drive all blames into everyone else. The other alternative is to feel guilty about our rage and blame ourselves.

Things are as bad and as good as they seem. There's no need to add anything extra.

We cannot be present and run our story-line at the same time.

There's a reason you can learn from everything: you have basic wisdom, basic intelligence, and basic goodness.