We can stop thinking that good practice is when it’s smooth and calm, and bad practice is when it’s rough and dark. If we can hold it all in our hearts, then we can make a proper cup of tea.

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

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.

In order to have compassion for others, we have to have compassion for ourselves.

Being satisfied with what we already have is a magical golden key to being alive in a full, unrestricted, and inspired way.

The trick is to keep exploring and not bail out, even when we find out that something is not what we thought. That's what we're going to discover again and again and again. Nothing is what we thought. I can say that with great confidence. Emptiness is not what we thought. Neither is mindfulness or fear. Compassion––not what we thought. Love. Buddha nature. Courage. These are code words for things we don't know in our minds, but any of us could experience them. These are words that point to what life really is when we let things fall apart and let ourselves be nailed to the present moment.

As each breath goes out, let it be the end of that moment and the birth of something new. . .