Suffering is our call to attention, our call to investigate the truth of our beliefs.

Managing life from our mental control towers, we have separated ourselves from our bodies and hearts.

I think the reason Buddhism and Western psychology are so compatible is that Western psychology helps to identify the stories and the patterns in our personal lives, but what Buddhist awareness training does is it actually allows the person to develop skills to stay in what's going on.

If attachment then carries forward in a way that's not healthy, we need to let it be there without making it wrong and bring as compassionate and honest attention to it as possible. Honor that this is part of being human, but it's important to know when it's getting in the way.

Offer some gesture of kindness to yourself. Sometimes it's just a message, to say: "It's okay. You're going to be okay. We've been through this before." The intention is reassurance, that you are not alone and you can do this. It is the most powerful way to come out of what I call the "trance of unworthiness."

We can find true refuge within our own hearts and minds-right here, right now, in the midst of our moment-to-momen t lives.

Underneath the stress is fear, and the biggest is our own personal fear of failure.