Most of us do not take these situations as teachings. We automatically hate them. We run like crazy. We use all kinds of ways to escape - all addictions stem from this moment when we meet our edge and we just can't stand it. We feel we have to soften it, pad it with something, and we become addicted to whatever it is that seems to ease the pain.

The most important aspect of being on a spiritual path may be to just keep moving.

According to the Buddhist belief, you can go on and on indefinitely, so you see your life as just a brief moment in time.

If you ask why we meditate, I would say it's so we can become more flexible and tolerant to the present moment.

The second noble truth says that this resistance is the...mechanism of what we call ego, that resisting life causes suffering.

In the end, that's what we all need more than anything else: to be there for each other, in every kind of situation.

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