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.

Mindfulness needs to not be judgmental to really be mindfulness, which means it needs a basis of loving kindness.

There is no 'thing' to let go of, but a concept, an idea of an ego that burdens us. As soon as we posit a 'thing' to let go of, we're in trouble. We need to change our view of reality, not attack a nonexistent entity.

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

Some things hurt, you know, and there's pain. But we magnify the suffering of it often, I think, by our reactions.

We long for permanence but everything in the known universe is transient. That's a fact but one we fight.

As I go through all kinds of feelings and experiences in my journey through life -- delight, surprise, chagrin, dismay -- I hold this question as a guiding light: 'What do I really need right now to be happy?' What I come to over and over again is that only qualities as vast and deep as love, connection and kindness will really make me happy in any sort of enduring way.