Suffering is to the heart and soul as tears are to the eyes, cleansing and expelling toxicity from the inner system. When we do not allow ourselves to feel appropriate pain, we move into a sort of non-experience. We watch life rather than live it; we look but never get too close.

There is no wisdom without mastery over the mystery of our internal world, the world that opens the door to understanding others.

The family is both mystery and reality; it houses our bodies and our spirits.

Our limbic system sets the mind's emotional tone and stores our highly charged emotional memories.

Part of what makes a situation traumatic is not talking about it. Talking reduces trauma symptoms. When we don't talk about trauma, we remain emotionally illiterate. Our most powerful feelings go unnamed and unspoken.

Accumulating years in the act of living is no guarantee of maturity. In fact, it is possible to be born, grow old and die without ever maturing.

Shame is quicksand on the path to soul.