Sharon Salzberg

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

“Let the breath lead the way.”

“Restore your attention or bring it to a new level by dramatically slowing down whatever you're doing.”

“Mindfulness helps us get better at seeing the difference between what’s happening and the stories we tell ourselves about what’s happening, stories that get in the way of direct experience. Often such stories treat a fleeting state of mind as if it were our entire and permanent self.”

“Mindfulness, also called wise attention, helps us see what we’re adding to our experiences, not only during meditation sessions but also elsewhere.”

“Because the development of inner calm & energy happens completely within & isn’t dependent on another person or a particular situation, we begin to feel a resourcefulness and independence that is quite beautiful—and a huge relief.”

“Meditation is the ultimate mobile device; you can use it anywhere, anytime, unobtrusively.”

“Training attention through meditation opens our eyes.”

“If you’re reading these words, perhaps it’s because something has kicked open the door for you, and you’re ready to embrace change. It isn’t enough to appreciate change from afar, or only in the abstract, or as something that can happen to other people but not to you. We need to create change for ourselves, in a workable way, as part of our everyday lives.”

“Meditation may be done in silence & stillness, by using voice & sound, or by engaging the body in movement. All forms emphasize the training of attention.”

“Meditation is essentially training our attention so that we can be more aware— not only of our own inner workings but also of what’s happening around us in the here & now.”

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

“As a friend of mine told me about Real Happiness: you wrote this one in American.”

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

“We don’t need any sort of religious orientation to lead a life that is ethical, compassionate & kind.”

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

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

“We need the courage to learn from our past and not live in it.”

“We often get caught up in our own reactions and forget the vulnerability of the person in front of us.”

“We are all too often told by someone that we are too old, too young, too different, too much the same, and those comments can be devastating.”

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

“We can understand the inherent radiance & purity of our minds by understanding metta. Like the mind, metta is not distorted by what it encounters.”

“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.”

“When we practice metta, we open continuously to the truth of our actual experience, changing our relationship to life.”

“Like water poured from one vessel to another, metta flows freely, taking the shape of each situation without changing its essence.”

“Metta is the ability to embrace all parts of ourselves, as well as all parts of the world. Practicing metta illuminates our inner integrity because it relieves us of the need to deny different aspects of ourselves. We can open to everything with the healing force of love. When we feel love, our mind is expansive and open enough to include the entirety of life in full awareness, both its pleasures and its pains, we feel neither betrayed by pain or overcome by it, and thus we can contact that which is undamaged within us regardless of the situation. Metta sees truly that our integrity is inviolate, no matter what our life situation may be.”

“To reteach a thing its loveliness is the nature of metta. Through lovingkindness, everyone & everything can flower again from within.”

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

“All beings want to be happy, yet so very few know how. It is out of ignorance that any of us cause suffering, for ourselves or for others”

“In Buddhism there is one word for mind & heart: chitta. Chitta refers not just to thoughts and emotions in the narrow sense of arising from the brain, but also to the whole range of consciousness, vast & unimpeded.”

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

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

“To relinquish the futile effort to control change is one of the strengthening forces of true detachment & thus true love.”

“With attachment all that seems to exist is just me & that object I desire.”

“Effort is the unconstrained willingness to persevere through difficulty.”

“With the practice of meditation we can develop this ability to more fully love ourselves and to more consistently love others.”

“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”

“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.”

“It is never too late to turn on the light. Your ability to break an unhealthy habit or turn off an old tape doesn't depend on how long it has been running; a shift in perspective doesn't depend on how long you've held on to the old view. When you flip the switch in that attic, it doesn't matter whether its been dark for ten minutes, ten years or ten decades. The light still illuminates the room and banishes the murkiness, letting you see the things you couldn't see before.Its never too late to take a moment to look.”

“Loving kindness is a form of love that truly is an ability, and, as research scientists have show, it can be learned. It is the ability to take some risks with our awareness-to look at ourselves and others with kindness instead of reflexive criticism; to include in our concern those to whom we normally pay no attention; to care for ourselves unconditionally instead of thinking, "I will love myself as long as I never make a mistake." It is the ability to gather our attention and really listen to others, even those we've written off as not worth our time. It is the ability to see the humanity in people we don't know and the pain in people we find difficult.”

“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.”

“For all of us, love can be the natural state of our own being; naturally at peace, naturally connected, because this becomes the reflection of who we simply are.”

“The difference between misery and happiness depends on what we do with our attention.”

“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.”

“All forms of meditation strengthen & direct our attention through the cultivation of three key skills: concentration, mindfulness & compassion or lovingkindness.”

“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”

“It is taught, we too can be enlightened, every one of us. We can be completely freed from the bonds of limitation and conditioned confusion through our own endeavor, inspiration, effort and development. There is a path, and we can traverse it.”

“Mindfulness can play a big role in transforming our experience with pain & other difficulties; it allows us to recognize the authenticity of the distress & yet not be overwhelmed by it.”

“We long for permanence but everything in the known universe is transient. That’s a fact but one we fight.”

“We use mindfulness to observe the way we cling to pleasant experiences & push away unpleasant ones.”