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

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

The Buddha taught that we're not actually in control, which is a pretty scary idea. But when you let things be as they are, you will be a much happier, more balanced, compassionate person.

Ego could be defined as whatever covers up basic goodness. From an experiential point of view, what is ego covering up? It's covering up our experience of just being here, just fully being where we are, so that we can relate with the immediacy of our experience. Egolessness is a state of mind that has complete confidence in the sacredness of the world. It is unconditional well being, unconditional joy that includes all the different qualities of our experience.

Be kinder to yourself. And then let your kindness flood the world.

Having compassion starts and ends with having compassion for all those unwanted parts of ourselves. The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy.

But all the time our warmth and brilliance are right here. This is who we really are. We are one blink of an eye away from being fully awake.