Suffering shapes the life force, sometimes into anger, sometimes into blame and self-pity. Eventually it may show us the wisdom of embracing and loving life.

I think that people get experiences, and out of those experiences come meaning and ideas. It's like watching a rose bush grow.

I don't think there's such a thing as a bad emotion. The only bad emotion is a stuck emotion.

Is it possible to live so defensively that you never get to live at all?

We may need to let go of our beliefs and ideas about life in order to have life.

Until we stop ourselves or, more often, have been stopped, we hope to put certain of life's events "behind us" and get on with our living. After we stop we see that certain of life's issues will be with us for as long as we live. We will pass through them again and again, each time with a new story, each time with a greater understanding, until they become indistinguishable from our blessings and our wisdom. It's the way life teaches us to live.

The most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen. Just listen. Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our attention…. A loving silence often has far more power to heal and to connect than the most well-intentioned words.