I want people to know you can live a life that is less aggressive and still have success.

Sometimes people feel disappointed when they hear about practicing compassion: "You mean I have to be nice?" It's kind of a letdown. We often overlook compassion, seeing it as merely a pit stop on the way to more advanced practices. We want something more; we don't even know what. But that's just a trick of our mind. One of the greatest teachings is to practice compassion.

Initially, you have to live a period where you are developing your attitude. I would consider that a meditation: determining what you want to do. You have a period where you meditate and you get the strength.

The most outrageous thing we can do in this world is to accept what happens and fly with it.

Each of us holds human destiny in our hands. It will be completely determined by how the mind feels about itself.

It is said that if our intention is to help others-even if we are unable to follow it through-we will never have any regret. Regret is a result of trying to make "me" happy.

The first thing you have to do is acknowledge the basic and fundamental goodness of all beings. If you don't, then you are going to have conflict. That's at the core of Shambhala.