“If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete.”

The only way to live is by accepting each minute as an unrepeatable miracle.

Do not doubt your own basic goodness. In spite of all confusion and fear, you are born with a heart that knows what is just, loving, and beautiful.

Most people discover that when hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with their own pain.

When we struggle to change ourselves we, in fact, only continue the patterns of self-judgement and aggression. We keep the war against ourselves alive.

In the end, forgiveness simply means never putting another person out of our heart.

When we have for so long been judged by everyone we meet, just to look into the eyes of another who does not judge us can be extraordinarily healing.

If you put a spoonful of salt in a cup of water it tastes very salty. If you put a spoonful of salt in a lake of fresh water the taste is still pure and clear. Peace comes when our hearts are open like the sky, vast as the ocean.

Meet this transient world with neither grasping nor fear, trust the unfolding of life, and you will attain true serenity.

Weigh the true advantages of forgiveness and resentment to the heart. Then choose.

Nobody knows why they were born or where they come from.

Knowledge and achievements matter little if we do not yet know how to touch the heart of another and be touched.

Letting go does not mean not caring about things. It means caring about them in a flexible and wise way.

What is truly a part of our spiritual path is that which brings us alive. If gardening brings us alive, that is part of our path, if it is music, if it is conversation we must follow what brings us alive.

It is true that the heart has its seasons, just as a flower opens to the sunlight and closes to the night. We need to be respectful of those rhythms. But we can’t close down for long. It is our true nature to have an open heart.

Have respect for yourself, and patience and compassion. With these, you can handle anything.

May I be given the appropriate difficulties so that my heart can truly open with compassion. Imagine asking for that.

If you are successful, it is because somewhere, sometime, someone gave you a life or an idea that started you in the right direction. Remember also that you are indebted to life until you help some less fortunate person, just as you were helped.

To let go does not mean to get rid of. To let go means to let be. When we let be with compassion, things come and go on their own.

So many of us start along the spiritual path because we are suffering. But you must realize that for real healing to occur, there must first be deep compassion for yourself, especially the parts of yourself you dislike or consider ugly.

Be kinder to yourself. And then let your kindness flood the world.

If we live in our oneness-heart, we will feel the essence of all religions which is the love of God. Forgiveness, compassion, tolerance, brotherhood and the feeling of oneness are the signs of a true religion.

The grief we carry is part of the grief of the world. Hold it gently. Let it be honored. You do not have to keep it in anymore. You can let go into the heart of compassion; you can weep.

It is not a case we are treating; it is a living, palpitating, alas, too often suffering fellow creature.

Life is so hard, how can we be anything but kind?