“It isn’t the loved ones and gain, per se, that need to be renounced; it’s the unrealistic hopes we place on these things. Wishful thinking can easily become more compelling than the longing of the Bodhi heart.” Pema Chödrön (Cutting Ties: The Fruits of Solitude)

“We’re all like localized vibrations of the infinite goodness of God’s presence. So love is our very nature. Love is our first, middle, and last name. Love is all, not as sentimentality but love that is self-forgetful and free of self-interest.” Fr. Thomas Keating

“There are many ways to dance with our difficulties.  Each one is a movement from unconsciousness to open attention.  We can study them, or we can just let them go.  We can transmute them and learn to make these energies a useful part of our practice.  When we are unable to do this, we can put them aside and later find a safe and supportive circumstance in which to work with them.  Beyond this, we can exaggerate them in our imagination to come to terms with them.  We can mindfully enact them.  All of these ways keep our practice growing, heartfelt, and alive.” Jack Kornfield (A Path with Heart: A Guide Through the Perils and Promises of Spiritual Life”)

“Placing the blame or judgment on someone else leaves you powerless to change your experience.  Taking responsibility for your beliefs and judgments gives you the power to change them.” Byron Katie

“Sometimes, we may have expectations for our behavior or thoughts that are productive.  We may challenge ourselves to practice more compassion or to meditate for ten minutes a day because we know it makes us feel good, even if we’re ‘not in the mood.’  The issue isn’t having expectations, but where the expectations are coming from.” Sharon Salzberg (The Tyranny of Aspiration)

“One of the major causes of fear is that we do not want to face ourselves as we are.  So, as well as the fears themselves, we have to examine the network of escapes we have developed to rid ourselves of them.  If the mind, in which is included the brain, tries to overcome fear, to suppress it, discipline it, control it, translate it into terms of something else, there is friction, and that conflict is a waste of energy.”  Jiddu Krishnamurti (Freedom from the Known)