At the root of all the harm we cause is ignorance.

Maybe the most important teaching is to lighten up and relax. It's such a huge help in working with our crazy mixed-up minds to remember that what we're doing is unlocking a softness that is in us and letting it spread. We're letting it blur the sharp corners of self-criticism and complaint.

The truth you believe and cling to makes you unavailable to hear anything new.

Suffering begins to dissolve when we can question the belief or the hope that there's anywhere to hide.

it is only to the extent that we are willing to expose ourselves again and again to annihilation that we are able to find that part of ourselves that is indestructible.

The most heartbreaking thing of all is how we cheat ourselves of the present moment.

Now is the only time. How we relate to it creates the future. In other words, if we're going to be more cheerful in the future, it's because of our aspiration and exertion to be cheerful in the present. What we do accumulates; the future is the result of what we do right now.