The more we practice sympathetic joy, the more we come to realize that the happiness we share with others is inseparable from our own happiness.

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.

If you have to choose between any two, first choose time to think.

I don't pray because it doesn't work. Prayer doesn't fix anything. Bad things happen anyway.

Noise guides only as light blinds.

It's good to keep changing your mind. It shows you're thinking. I'll only stop changing my mind when I'm dead. And maybe not even then.

The life you have led doesn't need to be the only life you have.

She looked back as well as she could; but it was all confusion. She had taken up the idea, she supposed and made everything bend to it.

Buddhism in one long prayer.

I am always late because people stop me for autographs and say hi.

Movies are very expensive endeavors, and my first film was not particularly a money-maker. Quite the opposite.

Everyone says they want community and friendship. But mention accountability or commitment to people, and they run the other way.