Sharon Salzberg

We don__ need any sort of religious orientation to lead a life that is ethical, compassionate & kind.

Compassion has more to do with the attitude we bring to our encounters with other people than with any quantifiable metric of giving.

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

The first step toward feeling compassion for others is to set the intention to try it out.

We often get caught up in our own reactions and forget the vulnerability of the person in front of us.

We can free ourselves from the old stories that have reduced us & allow real love for ourselves to blossom.

Grief helps us to relinquish the illusion that the past could be different from what it was.

Telling the story, acknowledging what has happened and how you feel, is often a necessary part of forgiveness.

Forgiveness is a process, an admittedly difficult one that often can feel like a rigorous spiritual practice.

We cannot instantaneously force ourselves to forgive__nd forgiveness happens at a different pace for everyone and is dependent on the particulars of any given situation.

Just as a prism refracts light differently when you change its angle, each experience of love illuminates love in new ways, drawing from an infinite palette of patterns and hues.

The causes of familial discord and distance are countless, but the results are often the same: secrecy, blame, sadness, hurt, confusion, and feelings of loss and grief.

Every single moment is expressive of the truth of our lives when we know how to look.

Through meditation we come to know that we are dying & being reborn in every moment.

In order to do anything about the suffering of the world we must have the strength to face it without turning away.

Meditation is a cyclical process that defies analysis, but demands acceptance.

Vulnerability in the face of constant change is what we share, whatever our present condition.

Our path, our sense of spirituality demands great earnestness, dedication, sincerity & continuity.