Quotes from Sharon Salzberg

The breath is the first tool for opening the space between the story you tell yourself about love.

That is why we do not hold an understanding of karma in a narrow way.  It is an extremely vast vision of life.  If at a given moment we experience the fruits of a past action, whether wholesome or unwholesome, our experience is the experience of all beings.  If we see an experience happening outside ourselves, we understand that this also is our experience,as in a dream when every character is some reflection of our own mind.

As we explore new ways of thinking, we need to be willing to investigate, experiment, take some risks with our attention, and stretch.

That's life: starting over, one breath at a time.

To be truly happy in this world is a revolutionary act because true happiness depends upon a revolution in ourselves. It is a radical change of view that liberates us so that we know who we are most deeply and can acknowledge our enormous ability to love.

Healing comes in many ways, and no one formula fits all.

Loving-kindness challenges those states that tend to arise when we think of ourselves as isolated from everyone else—fear, a sense of deficiency, alienation, loneliness.

When you don't have self-esteem you will hesitate before you do anything in your life. You will hesitate to go for the job you really wanna go for, you will hesitate to ask for a raise Ã¢â'¬Â¦ you will hesitate to report a rape, you will hesitate to defend yourself when you are discriminated against Ã¢â'¬Â¦ You will hesitate to vote, you will hesitate to dream. For us to have self-esteem is truly an act of revolution and our revolution is long overdue.

language that felt linked to my experience. In the sixties, the physicist John Stewart Bell theorized that particles that were once connected will, when separated, behave as if still connected, regardless of the distance between them. Some years later a French physicist, Alain Aspect, conducted experiments offering physical proof of Bell's theorem.

Pain is tough, but it's going to leave us. Pleasure is wonderful, but it's going to leave us. You can't hang on to pleasure; you can't stop pain from coming; you can be aware.

It is a state of peace to be able to accept things as they are. This is to be at home in our own lives. We see that this universe is much too big to hold on to, but it is the perfect size for letting go. Our hearts and minds become that big, and we can actually let go. This is the gift of equanimity.

Even as we live with the knowledge that each day might be our last, we don't want to believe it.

Balance The Stress Factor The Beauty of Mental Space Emotional Intelligence Take A Breath Negative Emotions Time and Priorities Boundaries A Culture of Wellness

Loving yourself is holding yourself accountable to be the best you can be in your life. Narcissistic love has nothing to do with accountability.

Continuous Partial Attention involves an artificial sense of constant crisis, of living in a 24/7, always-on world. It contributes to feeling stressed, overwhelmed, overstimulated, and unfulfilled; it compromises our ability to reflect, to make decisions, and to think creatively.

Concentration Attention Multitasking Boredom Procrastination

Compassion Judgment Loving-Kindness Compassion Is A Force Disconnection Self-Blame and Compassion Praise and Blame

It is not the perfect, but the imperfect, who have need of love." And that means every last one of us.

One of the amazing attributes of samsara is that no matter what we have or what is available to us, we know that somewhere out there, there is always more. The potential for dissatisfaction is infinite, because in this world of change, there is no end to arising and passing away, and the possibilities for comparing and wanting are endless.

Resilience Practicing Self-Care To Avoid Burnout The Illusion of Control Patience and Perspective Resilience In The Face

Our world opens up because we can let go. We can relinquish, and we are not afraid. We do not have to hold on.

In that quality of openness, when a pleasant experience arises for us, neither do we have to lunge at it in desperation, for we do not need it in order to feel good about ourselves. We can say, 'This is the most wonderful gathering of people, I've ever been in. That's nice.' When it's over, we can let that wonderful thing go, without regret, because within ourselves we feel whole, and happy. We understand that we have enough.

When we put together two substances in nature that are dry, they cannot cohere; there is no way for them to join. When we add wetness, these two substances can bond; they can come together. In just that same way, the force of metta, lovingkindness, allows us to cohere, to come together within ourselves and with all beings. The beauty of this truth moved the Buddha to say that sustaining a loving heart, even for the duration of the snap of a finger, makes one a truly spiritual being.

Communication and Connection Skillful Self-Expression What Do We Want? The Culture of Disparagement Appreciative Inquiry Gossip Paying Attention The Realm of Email Teamwork The Ripple Effect