Emotional states are fairly quick bursts of neuronal gossip. Traits, on the other hand, are more like the neuronal equivalent of committed relationships.

We're all buddhas. We just don't recognize it.

All that we are looking for in life - all the happiness, contentment, and peace of mind - is right here in the present moment.

The mind is the source of all experience, and by changing the direction of the mind, we can change the quality of everything we experience.

So overall, though my life is far from perfect, I'm contented with it. And in a peculiar way, I'm grateful for the troubling emotions I experienced. The obstacles we face in life can provide powerful incentives for change.

Any attempt to capture the direct experience of the nature of mind in words is impossible. The best that can be said is that it is immeasurably peaceful and, once stabilized through repeated experience, virtually unshakable. It's an experience of absolute well-being that radiates through all physical, emotional and mental states-even those that might ordinarily be labeled as unpleasant.

When you see your own desire to be happy, you can't avoid seeing the same desire in others.