Allow situations in your life to become your teacher.

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

The painful thing is that when we buy into disapproval,we are practicing disapproval. When we buy into harshness,we are practicing harshness.

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

This genuine heart of sadness can teach us great compassion. It can humble us when we're arrogant and soften us when we are unkind.

The point is that our true nature is not some ideal that we have to live up to. It's who we are right now, and that's what we can make friends with and celebrate.

This moving away from comfort and security, this stepping out into what is unknown, uncharted and shaky - that's called liberation.