I equate ego with trying to figure everything out instead of going with the flow. That closes your heart and your mind to the person or situation that's right in front of you, and you miss so much.

Meditation is not about getting out of ourselves or achieving something better. It is about getting in touch with what you already are.

Hell is just resistance to life.

The central question of a warrior's training is not how we avoid uncertainty and fear but how we relate to discomfort.

Buddhism itself is all about empowering yourself, not about getting what you want.

The essence of our whole path is in that place of discomfort, and what do we do with it?

Most of us do not take these situations as teachings. We automatically hate them. We run like crazy. We use all kinds of ways to escape - all addictions stem from this moment when we meet our edge and we just can't stand it. We feel we have to soften it, pad it with something, and we become addicted to whatever it is that seems to ease the pain.