When we are willing to stay even a moment with uncomfortable energy, we gradually learn not to fear it.

Now is the only time. How we relate to it creates the future.

Use your life to wake you up.

Compassion practice is daring. It involves learning to relax and allowing ourselves to move gently toward what scares us.

All the terrible things we do to ourselves and others from alcoholism to character assignation to abuse to murder come from one cause: the inability to stay present with an uncomfortable feeling in the body and seek short-term relief.

Treat yourself as your own beloved child.

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.