Quotes from Sharon Salzberg

Our ability to connect with others is innate, wired into our nervous systems, and we need connection as much as we need physical nourishment.

In those moments when we realize how much we cannot control, we can learn to let go.

As we practice meditation, we get used to stillness and eventually are able to make friends with the quietness of our sensations.

The embodiment of kindness is often made difficult by our long ingrained patterns of fear & jealousy.

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.

Effort is the unconstrained willingness to persevere through difficulty.

People turn to meditation because they want to make good decisions, break bad habits & bounce back better from disappointments.

The movement of the heart as we practice generosity in the outer world mirrors the movement of the heart when we let go of conditioned views about ourselves on our inner journey. Letting go creates a joyful sense of space in our minds

Metta sees truly that our integrity is inviolate, no matter what our life situation may be. We do not need to fear anything. We are whole: our deepest happiness is intrinsic to the nature of our minds, and it is not damaged through uncertainty and change.

Once someone appears to us primarily as an object, kindness has no place to root.

Forgiveness that is insincere, forced or premature can be more psychologically damaging than authentic bitterness & rage.

Meditation is a microcosm, a model, a mirror. The skills we practice when we sit are transferable to the rest of our lives.

We find greater lightness & ease in our lives as we increasingly care for ourselves & other beings.

By practicing meditation we establish love, compassion, sympathetic joy & equanimity as our home.

Abiding faith does not depend on borrowed concepts. Rather, it is the magnetic force of a bone-deep, lived understanding, one that draws us to realize our ideals, walk our talk,and act in accord with what we know to be true.

The art of concentration is a continual letting go. We let go of what is inessential or distracting. We let go of a thought or a feeling, not because we are afraid of it or because we can't bear to acknowledge it as a part of our experience; but, because it is UNNECESSARY.

You may have heard the old story, usually attributed to a Native American elder, meant to illuminate the power of attention. A grandfather (occasionally it's a grandmother) imparting a life lesson to his grandson tells him, I have two wolves fighting in my heart. One wolf is vengeful, fearful, envious, resentful, deceitful. The other wolf is loving, compassionate, generous, truthful, and serene. The grandson asks which wolf will win the fight. The grandfather answers, The one I feed.

Seeking is endless. It never comes to a state of rest; it never ceases.

Buddha first taught metta meditation as an antidote: as a way of surmounting terrible fear when it arises.

When we don't tell those we love about what's really going on or listen carefully to what they have to say, we tend to fill in the blanks with stories.

As an ability, love is always there as a potential, ready to flourish and help our lives flourish. As we go up and down in life, as we acquire or lose, as we are showered with praise or unfairly blamed, always within there is the ability of love, recognized or not, given life or not.

Sometimes kindness is stepping aside, letting go of our need to be right & just being happy for someone.

over time, offering loving kindness to all beings everywhere, including ourselves, unites us to one another so that we know that we can not go forward forgetting those left behind. Page 62

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