Quotes from Sharon Salzberg

It's affirming that we can look at any experience from the fullness of our being and get past the shame we carry.

A lack of real love for ourselves is one of the most constricting, painful conditions we can know.

We can use meditation as a way to experiment with new ways of relating to ourselves, even our uncomfortable thoughts.

Often when we believe we are practicing self-control or self-discipline, we're actually confining ourselves inside an overly analytical, self-conscious mental chamber.

One foundation of loving relationships is curiosity, keeping open to the idea that we have much to learn even about those we have been close to for decades.

We have to know ourselves to know where we end and another person begins, and we have to develop the skills to navigate the space between us. Or else we will seek wholeness through false means that honor neither us nor those we love.

if we really look at our actions with eyes of love, we see that our lives can be more straightforward, simpler, less sculpted by regret and fear, more in alignment with our deepest values.

How we traverse the space between us when conflict arises has a profound effect on the health and longevity of our relationships.

When we experience dissatisfaction at work, which everyone does we can use our disappointment as fuel to wake up.

A particularly difficult line to navigate is the one between fear and love, especially for parents, who want more than anything to protect their children from suffering.

Paying attention to the ethical implications of our choices has never been more pressing—or more complicated—than it is today.

with every action we take, we send love or suffering into the web that connects us.

Distrust any enterprise that requires new clothes

Setting the intention to practice kindness toward one's partner or family members or friends does not preclude getting angry or upset.

Every person has the potential to be unpleasant and harmful, just as every person has the potential to be pleasant and helpful.

Kindness is not a fixed trait that we either have or lack, but more like a muscle that can be developed and strengthened.

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.

The paradigm for our relationships is formed from our earliest experiences and is actually hardwired into our neurological and emotional network.

When we do our best to treat others with kindness, it's often a struggle to determine which actions best express our love and care for ourselves.

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

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

Intellectually, we may appreciate that loving ourselves would give us a firm foundation but for most of us this is a leap of logic, not a leap of the heart.

Our minds tend to race ahead into the future or replay the past, but our bodies are always in the present moment.

The environment we create can help heal us or fracture us. This is true not just for buildings and landscapes but also for interactions and relationships.