And I was struck all at once how life was out there going through its regular courses, and I was suspended, waiting, caught in a terrible crevice between living my life and not living it.

It's always been my hope that I would write a story that would inspire and would connect with people in a way that would touch hearts.

In a weird way I must have loved my little collection of hurts and wounds. They provided me with some real nice sympathy, with the feeling I was exceptional... What a special case I was.

You can't stop your heart from loving, really -- it's like standing out there in the ocean yelling at the waves to stop.

The hardest thing on earth is choosing what matters.

Have you ever written a letter you knew you could never mail but you needed to write it anyway?

When compassion wakes up in us, we find ourselves more willing to become vulnerable, to take the risk of entering the pain of others.