Sharon Salzberg Quotes

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.

Loving kindness is the practice of offering to oneself and others wishes to be happy, peaceful, healthy, strong

All of our actions can signify self-love or self-sabotage

It’s affirming that we can look at any experience from the fullness of our being and get past the shame we carry.

You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere. You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.

The causes of familial discord and distance are countless, but the results are often the same: secrecy, blame, sadness, hurt, confusion, and feelings of loss and grief.

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.

When we pay attention to sensations in our bodies, we can feel that love is the energetic opposite of fear.

We cannot instantaneously force ourselves to forgive—and forgiveness happens at a different pace for everyone and is dependent on the particulars of any given situation.

We have the power to improve our work lives immeasurably through awareness, compassion, patience & ingenuity.

These are times when sympathetic joy comes naturally, but in a complex relationship the heart may not leap up so easily.

Until we begin to question our basic assumptions about ourselves and view them as fluid, not fixed, it’s easy to repeat established patterns and, out of habit, reenact old stories that limit our ability to live and love ourselves with an open heart.

When we develop our ability to love in one realm, we simultaneously nourish our ability in others, as long as we remain open to the flow of insight and compassion.

Forgiveness is a process, an admittedly difficult one that often can feel like a rigorous spiritual practice.

Real love allows for failure and suffering.

Rather than trying to control what can never be controlled, we can find a sense of security in being able to meet what is actually happening. This is allowing for the mystery of things: not judging but rather cultivating a balance of mind that can receive what is happening, whatever it is. This acceptance is the source of our safety and confidence.When we feel unhappiness or pain, it is not a sign that things have gone terribly wrong or that we have done something wrong by not being able to control the circumstances. Pain and pleasure are constantly coming and going, and yet we can be happy. When we allow for the mystery , sometimes we can discover that right in the heart of a very difficult time, right in the midst of a painful situation, there is freedom. In those moments when we realize how much we cannot control, we can learn to let go. As we begin to understand this, we move from a mode of struggling to control what comes into our lives into a mode of simply wishing to truly connect with what is. This is a radical shift in worldview.

Setting the intention to practice kindness toward one’s partner or family members or friends does not preclude getting angry or upset.

We live in a network of inter connectivity.

When we direct a lot of hostile energy toward the inner critic, we enter into a losing battle.

There is so much we just can't see or know right now, including precisely how our actions will ripple out.

What makes awe such a powerful call to love is that it’s disruptive. It sneaks up on us. It doesn’t ask our permission to wow us; it just does. Awe can arise from a single glance, a sound, a gesture.

If we truly loved ourselves, we’d never harm another. That is a truly revolutionary, celebratory mode of self-care.

Though it may sound paradoxical, identifying our thoughts, emotions, and habitual patterns of behavior is the key to freedom & transformation.

Even as we live with the knowledge that each day might be our last, we don’t want to believe it.

Be open to the possibility that there are other paths available to you in relating to yourself and to another.

With our close friends, family members, and lovers, we hope to create a special world, one in which we can expect to be treated fairly, with care, tenderness, and compassion.

By experimenting with sympathetic joy, we break from the constricted world of individual struggle and see that joy exists in more places than we have yet imagined.

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

We begin to cultivate real love for ourselves when we treat ourselves with compassion.

Ask yourself, 'who is the one suffering from this anger? The person who has harmed me has gone on to live their life (or perhaps has died), while I am the one sitting here feeling the persecution, burning and constriction of anger. Out of compassion for myself, to ease my own heart, may I let go.

When emotions are long held and extremely complex, it sometimes takes years for them to enter fully into awareness.

As we explore new ways of thinking, we need to be willing to investigate, experiment, take some risks with our attention, and stretch.

Letting go of the belief that we’re powerless to help relieve our own suffering enhances our ability not only to heal but also to genuinely love and receive the love of others.

When we constantly hear that we should be smarter, better connected, more productive, wealthier—it takes real courage to claim the time and space to follow the currents of our talents, our aspirations, and our hearts, which may lead in a very different direction.

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

The good news is that opportunities for love enter our lives unpredictably, whether or not we’ve perfected self-compassion or befriended our inner critic.

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

You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection

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

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

Mindfulness allows us to shift the angle on our story and to remember that we have the capacity to learn and change in ways that are productive, not self-defeating.

Although much of the work we do in committed relationships we do with our partners, sometimes it’s necessary to start with ourselves.

Mindfulness may help you gain insight into your role in conflicts with others, it won’t single-highhandedly help you resolve them.

Instead of catching ourselves after we first felt angry, we develop a visceral sensitivity to what's happening within us in the moment & through mindfulness, we can shape our reaction right away.

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

So often, fear keeps us from being able to say yes to love—perhaps our greatest challenge as human beings.

Evolutionary biologists tell us we have a “negativity bias” that makes our brains remember negative events more strongly than positive ones. So when we’re feeling lost or discouraged, it can be very hard to conjure up memories and feelings of happiness and ease.

You are a person worthy of love. You don’t have to do anything to prove that.

While happiness is an end in itself, it is also the state of mind we can have right now.

Real Love for ourselves by definition includes every aspect of our lives—the good, the bad, the difficult, the challenging past, the uncertain future, as well as all the shameful, upsetting experiences and encounters we’d just as soon forget.

Even when we do our very best to treat those close to us with utmost respect and understanding, conflict happens. That’s life. That’s human nature.

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

The practice of loving-kindness is about cultivating love as a trans-formative strength,

Real Love may run on a lower voltage, but it’s also more grounded & sustainable.

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

If we turn away from our own pain, we may find ourselves projecting this aversion onto others, seeing them as somehow inadequate for being in a troubled situation.

Fearful of wasting a second, we hoard time as if it were money.

We learn from conflicts only when we are willing to do so.

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

One foundation of loving relationships is curiosity, keeping open to the idea that we have much to learn even about those we have been close to for decades.