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

Do I prefer to grow up and relate to life directly, or do I choose to live and die in fear?

If there's any possibility for enlightenment, it's right now, not at some future time. Now is the time.

Cool loneliness allows us to look honestly and without aggressionat our own minds. We can gradually drop our ideals of who we think weought to be, or who we think we want to be, or who we think other peoplethink we want to be or ought to be. We give it up and just look directlywith compassion and humor at who we are. Then loneliness is no threat andheartache, no punishment.

The painful thing is that when we buy into disapproval, we are practicing disapproval. When we buy into harshness, we are practicing harshness. The more we do it, the stronger these qualities become. How sad it is that we become so expert at causing harm to ourselves and others. The trick then is to practice gentleness and letting go. We can learn to meet whatever arises with curiosity and not make it such a big deal.

We don’t sit in meditation to become good meditators. We sit in meditation so that we’ll be more awake in our lives.

Use your life to wake you up.