It is said that the Christian mystic Theresa of Avila found difficulty at first in reconciling the vastness of the life of the spirit with the mundane tasks of her Carmelite convent: the washing of pots, the sweeping of floors, the folding of laundry. At some point of grace, the mundane became for her a sort of prayer, a way she could experience her ever-present connection to the divine pattern which is the source of life. She began then to see the face of God in the folded sheets.

Our listening creates a sanctuary for the homeless parts within another person.

Everybody is a story.

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

A shaman is someone who has a wound that will not heal. He sits by the side of the road with his open wound exposed.

The most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen. Just listen.

Ours is not a culture that respects the sick, the old or the vulnerable. We strive for independence, competence, and mastery. In embracing such 'frontier' values, we may become intolerant of human wholeness, contemptuous of anything in ourselves, and in others, that has needs or is capable of suffering. The denial of a vulnerability is the ultimate barrier to compassion.