"When we don't allow setbacks to defeat us, they become opportunities for learning, acceptance, flexibility, and patience."

"We use mindfulness to observe the way we cling to pleasant experiences & push away unpleasant ones."

"The journey to loving ourselves doesn't mean we like everything."

"Awareness levels the playing field. We are all humans doing the best we can."

"In Buddhism there is one word for mind & heart: chitta. Chitta refers not just to thoughts and emotions in the narrow sense of arising from the brain, but also to the whole range of consciousness, vast & unimpeded."

"Meditation is the ultimate mobile device; you can use it anywhere, anytime, unobtrusively."

"Everyone we interact with has the capacity to surprise us in an infinite number of ways. What can first open us up to each of our innate capacities for love is merely to recognize that."

"Sometimes people don't trust the force of kindness. They think love or compassion or kindness will make you weak and kind of stupid and people will take advantage of you you won't stand up for other people."

"The simple act of being completely attentive & present to another person is an act of love, and it fosters unshakeable well-being."

"Mindfulness practice helps create space between our actual experiences and the reflexive stories we tend to tell about them."

"So often we operate from ideas of love that don't fit our reality."

"There are an incalculable-even infinite-number of situations in which we can practice forgiveness. Expecting it to be a singular action-motivated by the sheer imperative to move on and forget-can be more damaging than the original feelings of anger. Accepting forgiveness as pluralistic and as an ongoing, individualized process opens us up to realize the role that our own needs play in conflict resolution."

"The starting place for radical re-imagining of love is mindfulness."

"We exercise kindness in any moment when we recognize our shared humanity-with all the hopes, dreams, joys, disappointments, vulnerability, and suffering that implies."

"When we feel conflicted about a particular decision or action, our bodies often hold the answer-if we take the time to stop and tune in."

"The heart contracts when our bodies are overcome by shame."

"Genuine awe connects us with the world in a new way."

"All of our actions can signify self-love or self-sabotage."

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

"Once we are honest about our feelings, we can invite ourselves to consider alternative modes of viewing our pain and can see that releasing our grip on anger and resentment can actually be an act of self-compassion."

"Science tells us that love not only diminishes the experience of physical pain but can make us-and our beloveds-healthier."

"Love simply, perpetually exists and that it's a matter of psychic housekeeping to make room for it."

"Be open to the possibility that there are other paths available to you in relating to yourself and to another."

"Being happy at work is possible for all of us, anytime & anywhere, with open eyes and a caring heart."

"For any marginalized group to change the story that society tells about them takes courage and perseverance."

"When we forgive someone, we don't pretend that the harm didn't happen or cause us pain. We see it clearly for what it was, but we also come to see that fixating on the memory of harm generates anger and sadness."

"If we harm someone else, we're inevitably also hurting ourselves. Some quality of sensitivity and awareness has to shut down for us to be able to objectify someone else, to deny them as a living, feeling being-someone who wants to be happy, just as we do."

"Forgiveness can be bittersweet. It contains the sweetness of the release of a story that has caused us pain, but also the poignant reminder that even our dearest relationships change over the course of a lifetime."

"The notion of loving oneself has gotten an undeservedly bad rap, which goes something like this: self-love is narcissistic, selfish, self-indulgent, the supreme delusion of a runaway ego looking out for "number one. In fact, just the opposite is true."

"We are all too often told by someone that we are too old, too young, too different, too much the same, and those comments can be devastating."

"Thinking we are only supposed to have loving & compassionate feelings can be a terrible obstacle to spiritual practice."

"Our vision becomes very narrow when we need things to be a certain way and cannot accept things the way they actually are."

"To celebrate someone else's life, we need to find a way to look at it straight on, not from above with judgment or from below with envy."

"These are times when sympathetic joy comes naturally, but in a complex relationship the heart may not leap up so easily."

"We nurture our sense of connection with the larger whole, noticing that the whole is only as healthy as its smallest part."

"From our first breath to our last, we're presented again and again with the opportunity to experience deep, lasting, and trans-formative connection with other beings: to love them and be loved by them; to show them our true natures and to recognize theirs."

"Each opportunity to interrupt the onslaught of thoughts and return to the object of meditation is, in fact, a moment of enlightenment."

"No matter what we think we should do, I don't think you can coerce yourself into loving your neighbor-or your boss-when you can't stand him. But if you try to understand your feelings of dislike with mindfulness and compassion, being sure not to forget self-compassion, you create the possibility for change."

"Clinging to our ideas of perfection isolates us from life and is a barrier."

"Taking in another's criticism, even when it's offered out of love, requires courage."

"What we learn in meditation, we can apply to all other realms of our lives."

"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."

"The good news is that opportunities for love enter our lives unpredictably, whether or not we've perfected self-compassion or befriended our inner critic."

"Like water poured from one vessel to another, metta flows freely, taking the shape of each situation without changing its essence."

"Only when we start to distinguish reality from fantasy that we can humbly, with eyes wide open, forge loving and sustainable connections with others."

"Meditation can be a refuge, but it is not a practice in which real life is ever excluded. The strength of mindfulness is that it enables us to hold difficult thoughts and feelings in a different way-with awareness, balance, and love."

"I call myself a meditation teacher rather than a spiritual teacher."

"We don't need any sort of religious orientation to lead a life that is ethical, compassionate & kind."

"Hatred does not help us alleviate our pain even in the slightest."

"Real Love for ourselves by definition includes every aspect of our lives-the good, the bad, the difficult, the challenging past, the uncertain future, as well as all the shameful, upsetting experiences and encounters we'd just as soon forget."