“It is awareness of both our shared pain and our longing for happiness that links us to other people and helps us to turn toward them with compassion.”

Meditation may be done in silence & stillness, by using voice & sound, or by engaging the body in movement. All forms emphasize the training of attention.

When you flip the switch in that attic, it doesn’t matter whether its been dark for ten minutes, ten years or ten decades.

The difference between misery and happiness depends on what we do with our attention.

Metta sees truly that our integrity is inviolate, no matter what our life situation may be. We do not need to fear anything. We are whole: our deepest happiness is intrinsic to the nature of our minds, and it is not damaged through uncertainty and change.

Forgiveness that is insincere, forced or premature can be more psychologically damaging than authentic bitterness & rage.

We find greater lightness & ease in our lives as we increasingly care for ourselves & other beings.

If we have nothing material to give, we can offer our attention, our energy, our appreciation. The world needs us. It doesn’t deplete us to give.

With attachment all that seems to exist is just me & that object I desire.

The combination of realizing our distinctiveness along with our unity is seeing interdependence.

With a clear intention and a willing spirit, sooner or later we experience the joy and freedom that arises when we recognize our common humanity with others and see that real love excludes no one.

Abiding faith does not depend on borrowed concepts. Rather, it is the magnetic force of a bone-deep, lived understanding, one that draws us to realize our ideals, walk our talk,and act in accord with what we know to be true.

To reteach a thing its loveliness is the nature of metta. Through loving kindness, everyone & everything can flower again from within.

The mind thinks thoughts that we don’t plan. It’s not as if we say, ‘At 9:10 I’m going to be filled with self-hatred.

When we don’t tell those we love about what’s really going on or listen carefully to what they have to say, we tend to fill in the blanks with stories.

If we fall, we don’t need self-recrimination or blame or anger – we need a reawakening of our intention and a willingness to re-commit, to be whole-hearted once again.

We need the courage to learn from our past and not live in it.

Listen with ears of tolerance! See through the eyes of compassion! Speak with the language of love.

Patience is the companion of wisdom.

Without suffering, you have no way to learn how to be understanding and compassionate.

I have found that the greatest degree of inner tranquility comes from the development of love and compassion.

The Lord has so much compassion, He involves Himself in our problems.

Compassion is not religious business, it is human business, it is not luxury, it is essential for our own peace and mental stability, it is essential for human survival.

The simplest acts of kindness are by far more powerful then a thousand heads bowing in prayer.

We do not need guns and bombs to bring peace, we need love and compassion.