Surrendering, letting go of possessiveness, and complete nonattachment-all are synonyms for accumulating merit.

When we scratch the wound and give into our addictions we do not allow the wound to heal.

The ego seeks to divide and separate. Spirit seeks to unify and heal.

The more neurosis the more wisdom.

Affirmations are like screaming that you're okay in order to overcome this whisper that you're not. That's a big contrast to actually uncovering the whisper, realizing that it's a passing memory, and moving closer to all those fears and all those edgy feelings that maybe you're not okay. Well, no big deal. None of us is okay and all of us are fine. It's not just one way. We are walking, talking paradoxes.

When Things Fall Apart” and I quote “Life is a good teacher and a good friend. Things are always in transition, if we could only realize it. Nothing ever sums itself up in the way that we like to dream about. The off-center, in-between state is an ideal situation, a situation in which we don't get caught and we can open our hearts and minds beyond limit. It's a very tender, nonaggressive, open-ended state of affairs.

This is the tendency of all living things: to avoid pain and to cling to pleasure.