Mindfulness is loving all the details of our lives, and awareness is the natural thing that happens: life begins to open up, and you realize that you're always standing at the center of the world.

Meditation is not about getting out of ourselves or achieving something better. It is about getting in touch with what you already are.

If it's painful, you become willing not just to endure it but also to let it awaken your heart and soften you. You learn to embrace it.

As we practice, we begin to know the difference between our fantasy and reality.

You could begin to notice whenever you find yourself blaming others or justifying yourself. If you spent the rest of your life just noticing that and letting it be a way to uncover the silliness of the human condition-the tragic yet comic drama that we all continually buy into-you could develop a lot of wisdom and a lot of kindness as well as a great sense of humor.

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

Without giving up hope—that there’s somewhere better to be, that there’s someone better to be—we will never relax with where we are or who we are.