Everything in our lives has the potential to wake us up or put us to sleep. Allowing it to awaken us is up to us.

Loving kindness towards ourselves doesn't mean getting rid of anything. It means we can still be crazy after all these years. We can still be angry after all these years. We can still be timid or jealous or full of feelings of unworthiness. The point is not to try to throw ourselves away and become something better. It's about befriending who we are already.

The more neurosis the more wisdom.

When we feel left out, inadequate, or lonely, can we take a warrior’s perspective and contact bodhichitta?

In tonglen practice, when we see or feel suffering, we  breathe in with the notion of completely feeling it, accepting it, and owning it. Then we breathe out, radiating compassion, lovingkindness, freshness - anything that encourages relaxation and openness.  So you're training in softening, rather than tightening, your heart. In this practice, it's not uncommon to find yourself blocked, because you come face to face with your own fear, resistance, or whatever your personal "stuckness" happens to be at that moment.

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

Our neurosis and our wisdom are made out of the same material. If you throw out your neurosis, you also throw out your wisdom.