Tara Brach

Extend an act of kindness each day. No one has to know. It can be a smile, reassuring words, a small favor…

— Tara Brach

When caught in conflict and blame - make a U-turn and shift your attention from blaming thoughts to what's going on emotionally…

— Tara Brach

If there's a demand of being together in a certain way, those expectations and judgements take away from that space and create…

— Tara Brach

In any moment, no matter how lost we feel, we can take refuge in presence and love. We need only pause, breathe,…

— Tara Brach

There is so much division in this world. So what is really the path of healing? It can begin in this moment,…

— Tara Brach

Unless we're completely awake, have a degree of that. We tense against love and hold on in a way that doesn't let…

— Tara Brach

“The biggest illusion about a path of refuge is that we are on our way somewhere else, on our way to becoming…

— Tara Brach

Presence is not some exotic state that we need to search for or manufacture. In the simplest terms, it is the felt…

— Tara Brach

The fear side can have us pull away and protect us, but it's really a withdrawal, a disassociation, a cutting off. Rather…

— Tara Brach

You have a unique body and mind, with a particular history and conditioning. No one can offer you a formula for navigating…

— Tara Brach

Learning to pause is the first step in the practice of Radical Acceptance. A pause is a suspension of activity, a time…

— Tara Brach

It is natural that our minds replay old stories, because that is our own mechanism for trying to work out unresolved problems.…

— Tara Brach

Somewhere in my early twenties I realized I was pretty constantly monitoring myself, judging how I was always falling short, whether it…

— Tara Brach

Feelings and stories of unworthiness and shame are perhaps the most binding element in the trance of fear. When we believe something…

— Tara Brach

I speak a lot about what I call "the trance of unworthiness" which is really epidemic in our culture, this sense of…

— Tara Brach

When desire for a certain person's attention becomes an "I have to have" kind of grasping, then identity gets organized around needing…

— Tara Brach

“The poet Rumi saw clearly the relationship between our wounds and our awakening. He counseled, “Don’t turn away. Keep your gaze on…

— Tara Brach

With mindfulness training we are able to recognize when we get lost in our mental dramas, and bring a kind and nonreactive…

— Tara Brach

It's the beginning of opening to love. Even if there's not much feeling of compassion toward oneself, just say, "It's okay, sweetheart,"…

— Tara Brach

If our hearts are ready for anything, we will spontaneously reach out when others are hurting. Living in an ethical way can…

— Tara Brach

We may want to love other people without holding back, to feel authentic, to breathe in the beauty around us, to dance…

— Tara Brach

Through the sacred art of pausing, we develop the capacity to stop hiding, to stop running away from our experience. We begin…

— Tara Brach

The spiritual path is not a solo endeavor. In fact, the very notion of a self who is trying to free her/…

— Tara Brach

In a basic way, acceptance is seeing clearly what's happening and holding it with kindness. This is a radical antidote to the…

— Tara Brach

“In anguish and desperation, I reached out as I had many times before to the presence I call the Beloved. This unconditionally…

— Tara Brach

“We might begin by scanning our body . . . and then asking, "What is happening?" We might also ask, "What wants…

— Tara Brach

You can think of spiritual practice as a kind of spiritual re-parenting ... You're offering yourself the two qualities that make up…

— Tara Brach

The Buddha never intended to make desire itself the problem. When he said craving causes suffering, he was referring not to our…

— Tara Brach

With an undefended heart, we can fall in love with life over and over every day. We can become children of wonder,…

— Tara Brach

Quite simply, if you're feeling anxious, angry, a sense of shame, whatever it is, breathe in and agree to touch or feel…

— Tara Brach

By regarding ourselves with kindness, we begin to dissolve the identity of an isolated, deficient self. This creates the grounds for including…

— Tara Brach

Even going through the motions is a way of establishing a new relationship with our inner life that is caring and tender,…

— Tara Brach

When I was first introduced to Buddhism in a high school World Studies class, I dismissed it out of hand. This was…

— Tara Brach

I would say both Western psychology and Eastern paths would recognize that we get caught up in feeling like a separate self…

— Tara Brach

When we're awake in our bodies and sense, the world comes alive. Wisdom, creativity, and love are discovered as we relax and…

— Tara Brach

We're so used to presenting ourselves and getting approval according to our achievements that it's difficult to be authentic and trust that…

— Tara Brach

I think of depression as the mechanism that pushes down the pain of that loss. It tries to distance us from the…

— Tara Brach

Fear of being a flawed person lay at the root of my trance, and I had sacrificed many moments over the years…

— Tara Brach

I decided to write 'True Refuge' during a major dive in my own health. Diagnosed with a genetic disease that affected my…

— Tara Brach

When we see the secret beauty of anyone, including ourselves, we see past our judgment and fear into the core of who…

— Tara Brach