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

Longing, felt fully, carries us to belonging.

Mindfulness is a pause – the space between stimulus and response: that’s where choice lies.

Through the sacred art of pausing, we develop the capacity to stop hiding, to stop running away from our experience. We begin to trust in our natural intelligence, in our naturally wise heart, in our capacity to open to whatever arises.

Nothing is wrong – whatever is happening is just “real life.”

Sometimes the easiest way to appreciate ourselves is by looking through the eyes of someone who loves us.

Awakening self-compassion is often the greatest challenge people face on the spiritual path.

There are some things we can’t choose, but in being present we can choose how we want to relate to them.

Paying attention is the most basic and profound expression of love.

Feeling compassion for ourselves in no way releases us from responsibility for our actions. Rather, it releases us from the self-hatred that prevents us from responding to our life with clarity and balance.

Relaxation is the doorway to both wisdom and compassion.

The two wings of mindfulness and kindness will begin to open the heart to more connection with our world.

When we put down ideas of what life should be like, we are free to wholeheartedly say yes to our life as it is.

As we free ourselves from the suffering of ‘something is wrong with me, ‘we trust and express the fullness of who we are.’

Pain is not wrong. Reacting to pain as wrong initiates the trance of unworthiness. The moment we believe something is wrong, our world shrinks and we lose ourselves in the effort to combat the pain.

Stopping the endless pursuit of getting somewhere else is the perhaps most beautiful offering we can make to our spirit.

Where desire ends up causing suffering is when it fixates.

Once a man has made a commitment to a way of life, he puts the greatest strength in the world behind him. It’s something we call heart power. Once a man has made this commitment, nothing will stop him short of success.

I’m not brave any more darling. I’m all broken. They’ve broken me.

The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides.

It’s easy to say I love you with your mouth. But I like when people say I love you with their heart.

If you look into your own heart, and you find nothing wrong there, what is there to worry about? What is there to fear?

A pen went scribbling along. When it tried to write love, it broke.

Dance, when you’re broken open. Dance, if you’ve torn the bandage off. Dance in the middle of the fighting. Dance in your blood. Dance when you’re perfectly free.

To give someone a piece of your heart, is worth more than all the wealth in the world.