Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Sometimes the easiest way to appreciate ourselves is by looking through the eyes of someone who loves us.
There is something wonderfully bold and liberating about saying yes to our entire imperfect and messy life.
If our hearts are ready for anything, we are touched by the beauty and poetry and mystery that fill our world.
Stories about ourselves and about the world continually arise in our minds and shape our beliefs about reality.
When we put down ideas of what life should be like, we are free to wholeheartedly say yes to our life as it is.
But this revolutionary act of treating ourselves tenderly can begin to undo the aversive messages of a lifetime.
My understanding is that to love, we need to be able to totally surrender to the living/dying nature of this world.
When someone says to us, as Thich Nhat Hanh suggests, "Darling, I care about your suffering," a deep healing begins.
The main thing going on around intimacy is that we've developed a lot of strategies so we'll be a desirable package.
When I'm attached, I find that I don't see the other person as clearly because I'm more caught up in what I'm wanting.
Our kids go to school and they come out feeling not intelligent, not desirable, not attractive or appealing to others.
By taking the time to explore charged memories in therapy we might uncover feelings that have been buried for decades.
The renowned seventh-century Zen master Seng-tsan taught that true freedom is being "without anxiety about imperfection.
It is through realizing loving presence as our very essence, through being that presence, that we discover true freedom.
Stopping the endless pursuit of getting somewhere else is the perhaps most beautiful offering we can make to our spirit.
As we free ourselves from the suffering of 'something is wrong with me, 'we trust and express the fullness of who we are.'
People have to find their rhythm. Some people have need for more contact and time together and some people need more space.
We can find true refuge within our own hearts and minds-right here, right now, in the midst of our moment-to-momen t lives.
On this sacred path of Radical Acceptance, rather than striving for perfection, we discover how to love ourselves into wholeness.
If you let someone know you appreciate him or her, especially when you're going to disagree, it gets that person's defenses down.
Perhaps the biggest tragedy of our lives is that freedom is possible, yet we can pass our years trapped in the same old patterns.
We want to be in open, loving communion with each other and our greatest fear is intimacy. That it won't work and we'll be rejected.
It may sound lovey-dovey, but there's research showing the positive effect of meditation on parts of the brain that control emotion.
Just remember that everyone is struggling; everyone is living with fear and uncertainty and it doesn't matter what their politics are.
When you are in touch with your body and heart, it allows you to then be in the world and act with intention and clarity and kindness.
When we relax about imperfection, we no longer lose our life moments in the pursuit of being different and in the fear of what is wrong.
When caught in conflict and blame - make a U-turn and shift your attention from blaming thoughts to what's going on emotionally in your body.
We, like the Mother of the World, become the compassionate presence that can hold, with tenderness, the rising and passing waves of suffering.
There is so much division in this world. So what is really the path of healing? It can begin in this moment, by embracing the life that`s here.
There is so much division in this world. So what is really the path of healing? It can begin in this moment, by embracing the life that's here.
I would say both Western psychology and Eastern paths would recognize that we get caught up in feeling like a separate self and an unworthy self.
The muscles used to make a smile actually send a biochemical message to our nervous system that it is safe to relax the flight of freeze response.
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.
When we experience stress, the nervous system tries to control things. Part of waking up is discovering what we are beyond that controlling organism.
Just come into stillness. Have your intention be to relax with the breath. That will begin to set in motion a habit that will start to train the mind.
When we're awake in our bodies and sense, the world comes alive. Wisdom, creativity, and love are discovered as we relax and awaken through our bodies.
No matter what feeling comes up - numbness, irritability, shame - if I let it arise and play itself through, I naturally open into wakefulness and care.
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.
I'd known that I had the capacity to love, that I enjoyed seeing other people be happy, that I had a real awe and wonder about the beauty of this world.
The most powerful healing arises from the simple intention to love the life within you, unconditionally, with as much tenderness and presence as possible.
Most of us grow up with a sense of "I'm not intelligent enough." It's such a sad thing that in the West we worship a certain kind of left-brain intelligence.
Everything we love goes. So to be able to grieve that loss, to let go, to have that grief be absolutely full, is the only way to have our heart be full and open.
It's the beginning of opening to love. Even if there's not much feeling of compassion toward oneself, just say, "It's okay, sweetheart," or "I'm sorry and I love you."
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.
This is for anyone reading this who wants to explore it. Recognize the thought, "Afraid of loving," then gently put your hand on your heart to send a message of kindness.
We're so used to presenting ourselves and getting approval according to our achievements that it's difficult to be authentic and trust that we'll be accepted just as we are.
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.
If there's a demand of being together in a certain way, those expectations and judgements take away from that space and create an edginess and a cramped-ness to the relationship.
In the process of deeply accepting our own inner experience, instead of being identified with a story of a limited self, we realize the compassion and wakefulness that is our essence.
When we see the secret beauty of anyone, including ourselves, we see past our judgment and fear into the core of who we truly are - not an entrapped self but the radiance of goodness.