I've spent quite a bit of my life as a meditation teacher and writer commending the strengths of love and compassion.

Find a gap between a trigger event and our usual conditioned response to it and by using that pause to collect ourselves and shift our response

You might have extensive bouts of thinking exceedingly nasty thoughts, but because you are relating to those thoughts with mindfulness and compassion, that's considered good meditation.

Whatever life presents us, our response can be an expression of our compassion.

It is so powerful when we can leave behind our ordinary identities, no longer think of ourselves primarily as a conductor, or writer, or salesclerk, and go to a supportive environment to deeply immerse in meditation practice.

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

What you learn about pain in formal meditation can help you relate to it in your daily life.