Anything we experience, no matter how challenging, can become an open pathway to awakening.

When there's a disappointment, I don't know if it's the end of the story. It may just be the beginning of a great adventure.

Things falling apart is a kind of testing and also a kind of healing.

Instead of asking ourselves, 'How can I find security and happiness?' we could ask ourselves, 'Can I touch the center of my pain? Can I sit with suffering, both yours and mine, without trying to make it go away? Can I stay present to the ache of loss or disgrace-disapp ointment in all its many forms-and let it open me?' This is the trick.

We sow the seeds of our future hells or happiness by the way we open or close our minds right now.

Tonglen dissolves your solid sense of "I'm the wise person, I'm going to help this poor, unfortunate loser."

My moods are continuously shifting like the weather.