The first step toward feeling compassion for others is to set the intention to try it out.

Smiling at someone can have significant health consequences.

Seeking happiness is not the problem. The problem is that we often do not know where and how to find genuine happiness and so make the mistakes that cause suffering for ourselves & others.

When you recognize and reflect on even one good thing about yourself, you are building a bridge to a place of kindness and caring.

Never feel ashamed of your longing for happiness.

Clinging to our ideas of perfection isolates us from life and is a barrier.

For any marginalized group to change the story that society tells about them takes courage and perseverance.

The idea that traumatic residues—or unresolved stories—can be inherited is groundbreaking.

The unconscious mind is a vast repository of experiences and associations that sorts things out much faster than the slow-moving conscious mind.

Buddhism has a term for the happiness we feel at someone else’s success or good fortune. Sympathetic joy, as it is known, invites us to celebrate for others.

Even as we recognize our resentment, bitterness, or jealousy, we can also honor our own wish to be happy, to feel free.

Life is a treasure-chest of opportunities, choices, and time. Unfortunately, the choice many people make is to argue about the details of the chest instead of seizing the treasure within it.

Time is the wisest counselor of all.

A strong passion for any object will ensure success, for the desire of the end will point out the means.

A particular disappointment is seldom more than an excrescence upon the trunk of a general good--a shower that spoils the pleasure party, but refreshes and enriches the earth.

Once you write and record a song, it becomes everyone else's song.

The dust of exploded beliefs may make a fine sunset.

It is not that uncommon for the cost of an abstraction to outweigh the benefit it delivers. Kill one today!

Sitting in the morning sun, I'll be sitting when the evening comes

The word surrender sounds horrible to one who wants to enjoy his senses but very sweet to one who has a humble heart.

Rose only hangs out with guys and psychopaths," said Mia. "Well," he said cheerfully, "since I'm both a psychopath and a guy, that would explain why we're such good friends.