Weekend Zen, April 20-21

The key in letting go is practice.

Each time we let go, we disentangle

ourselves from expectations and 

begin to experience things as they are.

~ Sharon Salzberg

Daily Zen - Monday, January 8

We go forward, we fall down, 

we have to pick ourselves up 

or let someone help us up 

–– we go forward again. 

That's how change happens, 

that's how progress is made.

~ Sharon Salzberg

Daily Zen - Thursday, December 28

Mindfulness helps us get better at

seeing the difference between what's

happening and the stories we tell ourselves

about what's happening, stories that get

in the way of direct experience.

~ Sharon Salzberg 

Daily Zen - Tuesday, June 27

We need the courage 

to learn from our past 

and not live in it.

~ Sharon Salzberg

Daily Zen - Thursday, July 15

Mindfulness helps us get better at seeing

the difference between what's happening

and the stories we tell ourselves about 

what's happening, stories that get in the way 

of direct experience. Often such stories treat 

a fleeting state of mind as if it were 

our entire and permanent self.

~ Sharon Salzberg

Daily Zen - Friday, October 30

Most of the time, we think we are our thoughts. 

We forget, or have never noticed, that there's an 

aspect of our mind that's watching these 

thoughts arise and pass away... Sometimes I 

ask my student to imagine each thought 

as a visitor knocking at the door of their house. 

The thoughts don't live there; you greet them, 

acknowledge them, and watch them go.

~ Sharon Salzberg

Weekend Zen, August 25-26

We long for permanence 

but everything in the known

 universe—thoughts, weather,

people, galaxies—is transient.

That's a fact, but one we fight.

~ Sharon Salzberg

Daily Zen - Thursday, July 19

We can't avoid pain—but we 

can transform our response to it.

~ Sharon Salzberg

Daily Zen - Friday, February 23

We can travel a long way in life and

do many things, but our deepest happiness

is not born from accumulating new 

experiences. It is born from letting go

of what is unnecessary, and knowing

ourselves to be always at home.

~ Sharon Salzberg

Weekend Zen, December 9-10

The secret to deepening concentration is the ability

to let go, over and over again—no judgment,

no harsh condemnation, no feeling of failing...

letting go of distractions gently, over and over,

and returning to the chosen object of attention.

That is how we make progress.

~ Sharon Salzberg

BONUS ZEN:  You can observe a lot by watching. ~ Yogi Berra

Daily Zen - Tuesday, November 14

Sometimes kindness takes the form of

stepping aside, letting go of our need 

to be right, and just being happy for someone.

~ Sharon Salzberg

Weekend Zen, May 13-14

The simple act of being completely attentive

and present to another person is an act of love,

and it fosters unshakeable well-being.

~ Sharon Salzberg

Daily Zen - Monday, July 18

No matter how much we want it to be otherwise,

the truth is that we are not in control

of the unfolding of our experiences.

~ Sharon Salzberg

Daily Zen - Thursday, August 13

We can always begin again.

~ Sharon Salzberg