The mind creates the abyss. The heart crosses over it. Love is the bridge.

Gratitude is the state of mind of thankfulness. As it is cultivated, we experience an increase in our "sympathetic joy," our happiness at another's happiness. Just as in the cultivation of compassion, we may feel the pain of others, so we may begin to feel their joy as well. And it doesn't stop there.

Meditation allows us to directly participate in our lives instead of living life as an afterthought.

When the heart acknowledges how much pain there is in the mind, it turns like a mother toward a frightened child.

Safety is the most unsafe spiritual path you can take. Safety keeps you numb and dead. People are caught by surprise when it is time to die. They have allowed themselves to live so little.

Simply touching a difficult memory with some slight willingness to heal begins to soften the holding and tension around it. (74)

Nothing is more natural than grief, no emotion more common to our daily experience. It's an innate response to loss in a world where everything is impermanent.