True respect for oneself must include the presence of a humility that tempers the temptation inherent in all forms of self-evaluation; otherwise, what we call respect for ourselves is really just a form of secret self-admiration: a false, fearful state that has as much in common with real self-respect as does a postcard picture of a rugged coastline with the towering cliffs and surging waves t...

Who among us hasn't found themselves conjuring up some imagined pleasure when faced with the pain of some contradiction in life that seems greater than our ability to deal with? If we're honest, we can see that most of our time is spent identifying the so-called cause of our discontented conditions, and the rest of our time is taken up trying to change our unwanted situations into what we ima...

We must stop trying to change the world we see, and begin the inner work of changing the way in which we see the world.

Whenever we act cruelly toward another, it's because something cruel "takes over and handles" the moment for us by doing what it remembers to do.

Whenever someone says something cruel, or otherwise does the unthinkable to us, our position towards this hurtful event is "calculated" right within our ensuing reaction to it -- a reaction that describes to us the nature of the perceived attack even as it formulates a response to it. But our red-seeing reactions read only the content of their own right to exist. Their report, all based upon t...

We can use everything that is thrown at us (right or wrong) to walk away from what is wrong within ourselves.

When another human being falls short of our expectations and we realize that what we want is not going to happen, there is a way for us to elevate ourselves and the other person in that same moment.

The cause of confusion and unhappiness lies in all the self-centered, touchy parts of us that insist, one after the other, that the world conform to their demands.