Meditation teaches us to focus and to pay clear attention to our experiences and responses as they arise, and to observe them without judging them.

By prizing heartfulness above faultlessness, we may reap more from our effort because we're more likely to be changed by it.

If we fall, we don't need self-recrimination or blame or anger - we need a reawakening of our intention and a willingness to re-commit, to be whole-hearted once again.

My earliest experiences in meditation were in a context of intensive retreats.

Some people have a mistaken idea that all thoughts disappear through meditation and we enter a state of blankness. There certainly are times of great tranquility when concentration is strong and we have few, if any, thoughts. But other times, we can be flooded with memories, plans or random thinking. It's important not to blame yourself.

Develop a mind so filled with love that it resembles space.

Patience doesn't mean making a pact with the devil of denial, ignoring our emotions and aspirations. It means being wholeheartedly engaged in the process that's unfolding, rather than ripping open a budding flower or demanding a caterpillar hurry up and get that chrysalis stage over with.