Suffering shapes the life force, sometimes into anger, sometimes into blame and self-pity. Eventually it may show us the wisdom of embracing and loving life.

A loving silence often has more power to heal and to connect than the most well-intentioned words.

It has been my experience that presence is a more powerful catalyst for change than analysis.

Goose bumps happen when your soul is close to you, breathing lightly on the back of your neck, and wakes you up.

In avoiding all pain and seeking comfort at all cost, we may be left without intimacy or compassion; in rejecting change and risk we often cheat ourselves of the quest; in denying our suffering we may never know our strength or our greatness.

At the deepest level, the creative process and the healing process arise from a single source. When you are an artist, you are a healer; a wordless trust of the same mystery is the foundation of your work and its integrity.

When we know ourselves to be connected to all others, acting compassionately is simply the natural thing to do.

The willingness to consider possibility requires a tolerance of uncertainty.

Of course love is never earned. It is a grace we give one another. Anything we need to earn is only approval.

The most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen. Just listen. Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our attention.... A loving silence often has far more power to heal and to connect than the most well-intentioned words.

Healing may not be so much about getting better, as about letting go of everything that isn't you -- all of the expectations, all of the beliefs -- and becoming who you are. (in Bill Moyers' Healing and the Mind).

Being safe is about being seen and heard and allowed to be who you are and to speak your truth.

Befriending life is less a matter of knowledge than a question of wisdom. It is not about mastering life, controlling it or exerting our will over it, no matter how well intentioned our will may be. Befriending life is more about harmlessness than it is about control.

Just Listen an excerpt.

People have the natural capacity to affirm and embrace life in the most difficult of circumstances.

The most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen. Just listen.

The spiritual is inclusive. It is the deepest sense of belonging and participation.We all participate in the spiritual at all times, whether we know it or not.

Grieving allows us to heal, to remember with love rather than pain. It is a sorting process. One by one you let go of the things that are gone and you mourn for them. One by one you take hold of the things that have become a part of who you are and build again.

Big messages come in small packages. All it may take to restore someone's trust in life may be returning a lost earring or a dropped glove.

Belief traps or frees us.