When we practice metta, we open continuously to the truth of our actual experience, changing our relationship to life.
Sharon SalzbergWhen we are devoted to the development of kindness, it becomes our ready response, so that reacting from compassion, from caring, is not a question of giving ourselves a lecture: 'I don't really feel like it, but I'd better be helpful, or what would people think?'
Sharon SalzbergThere's a famous quotation from the time the Buddha learned of the deaths of two of his greatest disciples: "It's as if the sun and the moon have left the sky." From that quotation, I would guess that while the Buddha loved all beings everywhere, with no exclusion, he also had relationships that were special to him, and he felt their loss.
Sharon SalzbergThe difference between misery and happiness depends on what we do with our attention.
Sharon SalzbergIf youโre reading these words, perhaps itโs because something has kicked open the door for you, and youโre ready to embrace change. It isnโt enough to appreciate change from afar, or only in the abstract, or as something that can happen to other people but not to you. We need to create change for ourselves, in a workable way, as part of our everyday lives.
Sharon Salzberg