“Fear of being a flawed person lay at the root of my trance, and I had sacrificed many moments over the years in trying to prove my worth. Like the tiger Mohini, I inhabited a self-made prison that stopped me from living fully.”

If our hearts are ready for anything, we are touched by the beauty and poetry and mystery that fill our world.

There is something wonderfully bold and liberating about saying yes to our entire imperfect and messy life.

Self-judgment continues to arise – it’s a strong habit – but the fact that I made a conscious commitment to recognize it has helped me stop feeding the story of being unworthy.

The trance of unworthiness keeps the sweetness of belonging out of reach. The path to “the sweetness of belonging,” is acceptance – acceptance of ourselves and acceptance of others without judgment.

But this revolutionary act of treating ourselves tenderly can begin to undo the aversive messages of a lifetime.

With mindfulness training we are able to recognize when we get lost in our mental dramas, and bring a kind and nonreactive presence to the feelings that accompany them.

Extend an act of kindness each day. No one has to know. It can be a smile, reassuring words, a small favor – without expecting something in return.

On this sacred path of Radical Acceptance, rather than striving for perfection, we discover how to love ourselves into wholeness.

When we open to love, we become love.

Perhaps the biggest tragedy of our lives is that freedom is possible, yet we can pass our years trapped in the same old patterns.

In a basic way, acceptance is seeing clearly what’s happening and holding it with kindness. This is a radical antidote to the suffering of judging mind.

Our attitude in the face of life’s challenges determines our suffering or our freedom.

Become a witness to your thoughts.

Happiness lies not in finding what is missing, but in finding what is present.

Radical Acceptance is the willingness to experience ourselves and our lives as it is.

Imperfection is not our personal problem – it is a natural part of existing.

Death will come in any case, and there is a long afterwards if the priests are right and nothing to fear if they are wrong.

Dare to be honest and fear no labor.

The upright, honest-hearted man Who strives to do the best he can, Need never fear the church’s ban Or hell’s damnation.

Shame arises from the fear of men, conscience from the fear of God.

And O! be sure to fear the Lord alway, And mind your duty, duly, morn and night; Lest in temptation’s path ye gang astray, Implore His counsel and assisting might: They never sought in vain that sought the Lord aright.

To be busy with material affairs is the best preservative against reflection, fears, doubts, all these things which stand in the way of achievement. I suppose a fellow proposing to cut his throat would experience a sort of relief while occupied in stropping his razor carefully.

Perhaps life is just that- a dream and a fear.

All investigations of Time, however sophisticated or abstract, have at their true base the human fear of mortality.