Take three conscious breaths. Just pause. Let it be a contrast to being all caught up. Let it be like popping a bubble. Let it be just a moment in time, and then go on. Maybe you are on your way to whatever you need to do for the day. You are in your car, or on the bus, or standing in line. But you can still create that gap by taking three conscious breaths and being right there with the immediacy of your experience, right there with whatever you are seeing, with whatever you are doing, with whatever you are feeling.

We can stop struggling with what occurs and see its true face without calling it the enemy. It helps to remember that our spiritual practice is not about accomplishing anything - not about winning or losing - but about ceasing to struggle and relaxing as it is. That is what we are doing when we sit down to meditate. That attitude spreads into the rest of our lives.

We don't experience the world fully unless we are willing to give everything away.

Gloriousness and wretchedness need each other. One inspires us, the other softens us.

In truth, there is enormous space in which to live our everyday lives.

The real thing that we renounce is the tenacious hope that we could be saved from being who we are.

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