“Self-love is an unfolding process that gains strength over time, not a goal with a fixed end point.” — Sharon Salzberg Copy Share Image
“The wholesome pursuit of excellence feels quite different from perfectionism.” — Sharon Salzberg Copy Share Image
“When we direct a lot of hostile energy toward the inner critic, we enter into a losing battle.” — Sharon Salzberg Copy Share Image
“We can use meditation as a way to experiment with new ways of relating to ourselves, even our uncomfortable thoughts.” — Sharon Salzberg Copy Share Image
It is sometimes difficult to view compassion and loving kindness as the strengths they are. — Sharon Salzberg Copy Share Image
“In more ways than any of us can name, love is wrapped up with the idea of expectation.” — Sharon Salzberg Copy Share Image
Loving kindness is the spirit of friendship toward yourself and others. — Sharon Salzberg Copy Share Image
“A lack of real love for ourselves is one of the most constricting, painful conditions we can know.” — Sharon Salzberg Copy Share Image
“Real Love for ourselves by definition includes every aspect of our lives—the good, the bad, the difficult, the challenging past, the uncertain… — Sharon Salzberg Copy Share Image
“Meditation can be a refuge, but it is not a practice in which real life is ever excluded. The strength of mindfulness… — Sharon Salzberg Copy Share Image
Each of us has a genuine capacity for love, forgiveness, wisdom and compassion. Meditation awakens these qualities so that we can discover… — Sharon Salzberg Copy Share Image
“I see real love as the most fundamental of our innate capacities, never destroyed no matter what we might have gone through… — Sharon Salzberg Copy Share Image
“When we feel conflicted about a particular decision or action, our bodies often hold the answer—if we take the time to stop… — Sharon Salzberg Copy Share Image
“The difference between a life laced through with frustration and one sustained by happiness depends on whether it is motivated by self-hatred… — Sharon Salzberg Copy Share Image
“The key in letting go is practice. Each time we let go, we disentangle ourselves from our expectations and begin to experience… — Sharon Salzberg Copy Share Image
“The good news is that opportunities for love enter our lives unpredictably, whether or not we’ve perfected self-compassion or befriended our inner… — Sharon Salzberg Copy Share Image
“In one of the verses of Lal Ded, or Lalla, a fourteenth-century mystic from Kashmir, Lalla says: “At the end of a… — Sharon Salzberg Copy Share Image
“There are an incalculable—even infinite—number of situations in which we can practice forgiveness. Expecting it to be a singular action—motivated by the… — Sharon Salzberg Copy Share Image
“The practice of sympathetic joy is rooted in inner development. It’s not a matter of learning techniques to “make friends and influence… — Sharon Salzberg Copy Share Image
Throughout our lives we long to love ourselves more deeply and to feel connected with others. Instead, we often contract, fear intimacy,… — Sharon Salzberg Copy Share Image
“At times, reality is love’s great challenge. When our old stories and dreams are shattered, our first instinct may be to resist,… — Sharon Salzberg Copy Share Image
“How we traverse the space between us when conflict arises has a profound effect on the health and longevity of our relationships.” — Sharon Salzberg Copy Share Image
“We begin to cultivate real love for ourselves when we treat ourselves with compassion.” — Sharon Salzberg Copy Share Image
“Love simply, perpetually exists and that it’s a matter of psychic housekeeping to make room for it.” — Sharon Salzberg Copy Share Image
“We’re capable of much more than mediocrity, much more than merely getting by in this world.” — Sharon Salzberg Copy Share Image
“When we relate to ourselves with loving kindness, perfectionism naturally drops away.” — Sharon Salzberg Copy Share Image
“The more we practice mindfulness, the more alert we become to the cost of keeping secrets.” — Sharon Salzberg Copy Share Image
“We can free ourselves from the old stories that have reduced us & allow real love for ourselves to blossom.” — Sharon Salzberg Copy Share Image
“The overarching practice of letting go is also one of gaining resilience and insight.” — Sharon Salzberg Copy Share Image
“It’s affirming that we can look at any experience from the fullness of our being and get past the shame we carry.” — Sharon Salzberg Copy Share Image
“The skills available to us through mindfulness make it possible to bring love to our connections with others.” — Sharon Salzberg Copy Share Image
With the practice of meditation we can develop this ability to more fully love ourselves and to more consistently love others. — Sharon Salzberg Copy Share Image
“We truly can reconfigure how we see ourselves and reclaim the love for ourselves that we’re innately capable of.” — Sharon Salzberg Copy Share Image
“When we pay attention to sensations in our bodies, we can feel that love is the energetic opposite of fear.” — Sharon Salzberg Copy Share Image
“Thinking we are only supposed to have loving & compassionate feelings can be a terrible obstacle to spiritual practice.” — Sharon Salzberg Copy Share Image
“So often, fear keeps us from being able to say yes to love—perhaps our greatest challenge as human beings.” — Sharon Salzberg Copy Share Image
Some things hurt, you know, and there's pain. But we magnify the suffering of it often, I think, by our reactions. — Sharon Salzberg Copy Share
“How we traverse the space between us when conflict arises has a profound effect on the health and longevity of our relationships.” — Sharon Salzberg Copy Share
“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… — Sharon Salzberg Copy Share
“Loving ourselves calls us to give up the illusion that we can control everything and focuses us on building our inner resource of resilience.” — Sharon Salzberg Copy Share
In order to do anything about the suffering of the world we must have the strength to face it without turning away. — Sharon Salzberg Copy Share
“The paradigm for our relationships is formed from our earliest experiences and is actually hardwired into our neurological and emotional network.” — Sharon Salzberg Copy Share
Vulnerability in the face of constant change is what we share, whatever our present condition. — Sharon Salzberg Copy Share
“Asking questions is an opportunity for creativity and personal expression, both for the person asking and the person answering.” — Sharon Salzberg Copy Share
Compassion isn't morose; it's something replenishing and opening; that's why it makes us happy. — Sharon Salzberg Copy Share
“When we open our hearts to the breadth of our experiences, we learn to tune into our needs, unique perceptions, thoughts & feelings” — Sharon Salzberg Copy Share
“As we explore new ways of loving and being loved by others, we need to equip ourselves with open, pliant minds; we need to… — Sharon Salzberg Copy Share
Even in the midst of devastation, something within us always points the way to freedom. — Sharon Salzberg Copy Share
“It's important to investigate the nature of anger because it is such a powerful energy and can be so destructive. When we can face… — Sharon Salzberg Copy Share
“When we contemplate the miracle of embodied life, we begin to partner with our bodies in a kinder way.” — Sharon Salzberg Copy Share
