If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough ~ Albert Einstein

“We're all just walking each other home.” ― Ram Dass

"Everyone needs to be valued. Everyone has the potential to give something back." ~ Princess Diana

"Humility is the quality of not insisting that things happen in any particular way."

Worry

Silence

"I suppose I can understand the need for some to set aside a block of time each day to formally practice some sort of silent meditation or contemplation, as a respite from the dualistic, interactive world — perhaps most especially for those hyper-active, extrovert types. But one could also say that here it’s been just the opposite:    I’ve always had to ‘practice’ leaving the silence, to turn outward, so to speak, to participate in the interactive world. The silence and solitude always felt natural, while being ‘in the world’ never really felt quite right — like a stranger in a strange land. But one does make the effort, otherwise I may well appear as one of those reclusive hermits with a long white beard, with nothing whatsoever to say about That which there is nothing to say."  ~ snowleopard

"Love always returns for itself. Nothing is left behind, and when the return is done here, it continues to unite itself as others, because it is seen that there are no others."

- Susanne Marie

In our struggle for freedom, truth is the only weapon we possess.~ Dalai Lama

Acts of Kindness

Come on, let's play....

"My dog reminds me to get out of my head & play. She keeps me balanced."

“You don’t have to do anything with your mind, just allow it to rest in its essential nature.” – Niguma

You would know the secret of death.
But how shall you find it unless you seek it in the heart of life?
The owl whose night-bound eyes are blind unto the day cannot unveil the mystery of light.
If you would indeed behold the spirit of death, open your heart wide unto the body of life.
For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one.’

~Khalil Ghibran 

Grant me daily the grace of gratitude, to be thankful for all my many gifts, and so be freed from artificial needs, that I might lead a joyful, simple life.

Edward Hays

"You have succeeded in life when all you really want is only what you really need." 

~ Vernon Howard

Enlightenment

“Enlightenment is a destructive process. It has nothing to do with becoming better or being happier.  Enlightenment is the crumbling away of untruth. It's seeing through the facade of pretence. It's the complete eradication of everything we imagined to be true.”  ~ Adyashanti

The Thinker

"When you recognize that there is a voice in your head that pretends to be you and never stops speaking, you are awakening out of your unconscious identification with the stream of thinking. When you notice that voice, you realize that who you are is not the voice — the thinker — but the one who is aware of it." ~ Eckhart Tolle

"Wherever there is separation, condemnation, self-doubt, lack-mentality, bitterness, hostility or segregation ... you can best be sure ego is not far behind." ~ Christian Andreason, NDE Experiencer

Everything's coming up roses - or - When it rains, it pours

"In a Universe based on vibration, like attracts like; that is, the vibration of your words, thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and actions magnetically draws to you experiences that are the same vibration."

~ Robert Schwartz

"The heart is not awakened by anger, even if it is for a just cause...

Behind anger there is always fear.  Fear means that you do not trust the natural flow of Life and therefore feel vulnerable.  When you become angry, you are really lashing out against your own vulnerability, which you do not want to face.  More than anything else, the heart is awakened by forgiveness and trust -- the opposites of anger and fear."

Excerpt from Your Soul's Gift

“You are a function of what the whole universe is doing in the same way that a wave is a function of what the whole ocean is doing.”  ― Alan Watts 

"perception requires the right instrument"

What is the right instrument?  Quite simple, the heart.  The heart has a higher form of knowing than the mind.  It may not make logical sense, but it will feel right.  Trust that feeling.  ~ Robert Schwartz

life is based 

on love 

and service,

there is 

nothing else

"It has been my philosophy of life that difficulties vanish when faced boldly."

 - Isaac Asimov

"After one has accepted the worst, one is also without fear...peace of mind is that mental condition in which you have accepted the worst." ~ Lin Yutang

Excerpt from The Importance of Living

HAPPINESS

Our responses - our thoughts, words, and actions in every moment - create our experience and potentially our healing

"As we respond to life in loving ways, our previous resistance becomes acceptance, our acceptance turns into receptivity, our receptivity grows into embrace, and our embrace is transformed into gratitude for the experiences that open our hearts and expand us as souls." ~ Robert Schwartz

"Defining yourself through thought is limiting yourself." ~ Eckhart Tolle

Enemy of Compassion

The foundation of the Buddha's teachings lies in compassion, and the reason for practicing the teachings is to wipe out the persistence of ego, the number-one enemy of compassion. 
~ Dalai Lama

The Human Game

Alan Watts -- The Human Game

Heart

“If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher.” 

~ Pema Chodron