Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.

If we could learn to like ourselves, even a little, maybe our cruelties and angers might melt away.

Instead of running from our emotions or being swept away by their initial gusts, we should learn to sit with them, become at peace with their unique flavors, and ultimately discover deep pools of inspiration.

Learning how to be kind to ourselves, learning how to respect ourselves, is important. The reason it’s important is that, fundamentally, when we look into our own hearts and begin to discover what is confused and what is brilliant, what is bitter and what is sweet, it isn’t just ourselves that we’re discovering. We’re discovering the universe.

When we are securely rooted in personal intimacy with the source of life, it will be possible to remain flexible without being relativistic, convinced without being rigid, willing to confront without being offensive, gentle and forgiving without being soft, and true witnesses without being manipulative.

Be forgiving with your past self.
Be strict with your present self.
Be flexible with your future self.

Be gentle to all, and stern with yourself.

I think that somehow, we learn who we really are and then live with that decision.

Mindfulness helps you open up to the deeper layers of yourself.

Our practice rather than being about killing the ego is about simply discovering our true nature.

When we’re kind to ourselves, we create a reservoir of compassion that we can extend to others. Our children learn how to be self-compassionate by watching us, and the people around us feel free to be authentic and connected.

Once we are honest about our feelings, we can invite ourselves to consider alternative modes of viewing our pain and can see that releasing our grip on anger and resentment can actually be an act of self-compassion.

It's as if we were both digging into each other's soul to find a self that was put there before we were born.

You have to learn to recognize your own depths.