Feeling irritated, restless, afraid, and hopeless is a reminder to listen more carefully.

When resistance is gone, the demons are gone.

We cannot be present and run our story-line at the same time.

Few of us are satisfied with retreating from the world and just working on ourselves. We want our training to manifest and to be of benefit. The bodhisattva-warrior, therefore, makes a vow to wake up not just for himself but for the welfare of all beings.

True compassion does not come from wanting to help out those less fortunate than ourselves but from realizing our kinship with all beings.

Usually we think that brave people have no fear. The truth is that they are intimate with fear.

Difficult things provoke all your irritations and bring your habitual patterns to the surface. And that becomes the moment of truth. You have the choice to launch into your lousy habitual patterns, or to stay with the rawness and discomfort of the situation and let it transform you.