We spend all our energy and waste our lives trying to re-create these zones of safety, which are always falling apart. That's the essence of samsara - the cycle of suffering that comes from continuing to seek happiness in all the wrong places.

Resistance to unwanted circumstances has the power to keep those circumstances alive and well for a very long time.

Even if you don't feel appreciation, just look. Feel what you feel; take an interest and be curious.

Only to the extent that we expose ourselves over and over to annihilation can that which is indestructible in us be found.

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

We could learn to stop when the sun goes down and when the sun comes up. We could learn to listen to the wind; we could learn to notice that it's raining or snowing or hailing or calm. We could reconnect with the weather that is ourselves, and we could realize that it's sad. The sadder it is, and the vaster it is, the more our heart opens. We can stop thinking that good practice is when it's smooth and calm, and bad practice is when it's rough and dark. If we can hold it all in our hearts, then we can make a proper cup of tea.

It is possible to move through the drama of our lives without believing so earnestly in the character that we play.