“The art of concentration is a continual letting go. We let go of what is inessential or distracting. We let go of a thought or a feeling, not because we are afraid of it or because we can’t bear to acknowledge it as a part of our experience; but, because it is UNNECESSARY.”

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.

Meditation is a microcosm, a model, a mirror. The skills we practice when we sit are transferable to the rest of our lives.

Compassion grows in us when we know how the energy of love is available all around us.

You are a person worthy of love. You don’t have to do anything to prove that.

To relinquish the futile effort to control change is one of the strengthening forces of true detachment & thus true love.

The overarching practice of letting go is also one of gaining resilience and insight.

Live on the edge. I’m only free because I’m not afraid. Everything I was afraid of already happened to me.

Don’t be afraid of who sits in the White House. God can triumph over Trump.

Never be afraid to stand with the minority when the minority is right, for the minority which is right will one day be the majority.

I’m afraid that if you look at a thing long enough, it loses all of its meaning.

Why are sex and violence always linked? I’m afraid they’ll blur together in people’s minds – sexandviolence – until we can’t tell them apart. I expect to hear a newscaster say, “The mob became unruly and the police were forced to resort to sex.”

Noble hearts are neither jealous nor afraid because jealousy spells doubt and fear spells pettiness.

Not unafraid, but moving a tiny bravery is a large one always always always this.

Are they dead that yet speak louder than we can speak, and a more universal language? Are they dead that yet act? Are they dead that yet move upon society and inspire the people with nobler motives and more heroic patriotism?