Sharon Salzberg > Sharon's Quotes

“We don’t need any sort of religious orientation to lead a life that is ethical, compassionate & kind.”
― Sharon Salzberg, The Force of Kindness: Change Your Life with Love & Compassion

“All forms of meditation strengthen & direct our attention through the cultivation of three key skills: concentration, mindfulness & compassion or lovingkindness.”
― Sharon Salzberg, Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation

“The difference between misery and happiness depends on what we do with our attention.”
― Sharon Salzberg, Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness

“If we fall, we don't need self-recrimination or blame or anger - we need a reawakening of our intention and a willingness to re-commit, to be whole-hearted once again.”
― Sharon Salzberg

“The mind thinks thoughts that we don't plan. It's not as if we say, 'At 9:10 I'm going to be filled with self-hatred.”
― Sharon Salzberg

“By engaging in a delusive quest for happiness, we bring only suffering upon ourselves. In our frantic search for something to quench our thirst, we overlook the water all around us and drive ourselves into exile from our own lives. ”
― Sharon Salzberg

“Life is like an ever-shifting kaleidoscope - a slight change, and all patterns alter.”
― Sharon Salzberg

“To offer our hearts in faith means recognizing that our hearts are worth something, that we ourselves, in our deepest and truest nature, are of value.”
― Sharon Salzberg, Faith: Trusting Your Own Deepest Experience

“over time, offering loving kindness to all beings everywhere, including ourselves, unites us to one another so that we know that we can not go forward forgetting those left behind." Page 62”
― Sharon Salzberg, The Force of Kindness: Change Your Life with Love & Compassion

“It is never too late to turn on the light. Your ability to break an unhealthy habit or turn off an old tape doesn't depend on how long it has been running; a shift in perspective doesn't depend on how long you've held on to the old view.

When you flip the switch in that attic, it doesn't matter whether its been dark for ten minutes, ten years or ten decades.

The light still illuminates the room and banishes the murkiness, letting you see the things you couldn't see before.

Its never too late to take a moment to look.”
― Sharon Salzberg, Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation

“Loving kindness is a form of love that truly is an ability, and, as research scientists have show, it can be learned. It is the ability to take some risks with our awareness-to look at ourselves and others with kindness instead of reflexive criticism; to include in our concern those to whom we normally pay no attention; to care for ourselves unconditionally instead of thinking, "I will love myself as long as I never make a mistake." It is the ability to gather our attention and really listen to others, even those we've written off as not worth our time. It is the ability to see the humanity in people we don't know and the pain in people we find difficult.”
― Sharon Salzberg, Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation

“For all of us, love can be the natural state of our own being; naturally at peace, naturally connected, because this becomes the reflection of who we simply are.”
― Sharon Salzberg, Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness

“Abiding faith does not depend on borrowed concepts. Rather, it is the magnetic force of a bone-deep, lived understanding, one that draws us to realize our ideals, walk our talk,and act in accord with what we know to be true.”
― Sharon Salzberg, Faith: Trusting Your Own Deepest Experience

“The movement of the heart as we practice generosity in the outer world mirrors the movement of the heart when we let go of conditioned views about ourselves on our inner journey. Letting go creates a joyful sense of space in our minds”
― Sharon Salzberg, A Heart as Wide as the World: Stories on the Path of Lovingkindness

“The art of concentration is a continual letting go. We let go of what is inessential or distracting. We let go of a thought or a feeling, not because we are afraid of it or because we can’t bear to acknowledge it as a part of our experience; but, because it is UNNECESSARY.”
― Sharon Salzberg, Unplug

“As an ability, love is always there as a potential, ready to flourish and
help our lives flourish. As we go up and down in life, as we acquire or
lose, as we are showered with praise or unfairly blamed, always within
there is the ability of love, recognized or not, given life or not.”
― Sharon Salzberg, The Kindness Handbook: A Practical Companion

“With the practice of meditation we can develop this ability to more fully love
ourselves and to more consistently love others.”
― Sharon Salzberg, A Heart as Wide as the World: Stories on the Path of Lovingkindness

“Effort is the unconstrained willingness to persevere through difficulty.”
― Sharon Salzberg, A Heart as Wide as the World: Stories on the Path of Lovingkindness

“As we practice meditation, we get used to stillness and eventually are able to make
friends with the quietness of our sensations.”
― Sharon Salzberg, A Heart as Wide as the World: Stories on the Path of Lovingkindness

“We are all too often told by someone that we are too old, too young, too different, too much the same, and those comments can be devastating.”
― Sharon Salzberg, The Force of Kindness: Change Your Life with Love & Compassion

“We often get caught up in our own reactions and forget the vulnerability of the person in front of us.”
― Sharon Salzberg, The Force of Kindness: Change Your Life with Love & Compassion

“We need the courage to learn from our past and not live in it.”
― Sharon Salzberg, The Force of Kindness: Change Your Life with Love & Compassion

“The embodiment of kindness is often made difficult by our long ingrained patterns
of fear & jealousy.”
― Sharon Salzberg, The Force of Kindness: Change Your Life with Love & Compassion

“We find greater lightness & ease in our lives as we increasingly care for ourselves & other beings.”
― Sharon Salzberg, The Force of Kindness: Change Your Life with Love & Compassion

“Sometimes we think that to develop an open heart, to be truly loving and compassionate, means that we need to be passive, to allow others to abuse us, to smile and let anyone do what they want with us. Yet this is not what is meant by compassion. Quite the contrary. Compassion is not at all weak. It is the strength that arises out of seeing the true nature of suffering in the world. Compassion allows us to bear witness to that suffering, whether it is in ourselves or others, without fear; it allows us to name injustice without hesitation, and to act strongly, with all the skill at our disposal. To develop this mind state of compassion...is to learn to live, as the Buddha put it, with sympathy for all living beings, without exception.”
― Sharon Salzberg, Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness

“Once someone appears to us primarily as an object, kindness has no place to root.”
― Sharon Salzberg, The Force of Kindness: Change Your Life with Love & Compassion

“People turn to meditation because they want to make good decisions, break bad habits & bounce back better from disappointments.”
― Sharon Salzberg, The Power of Meditation: A 28-Day Programme for Real Happiness

“Meditation is essentially training our attention so that we can be more aware— not only of our own inner workings but also of what’s happening around us in the here & now.”
― Sharon Salzberg, The Power of Meditation: A 28-Day Programme for Real Happiness

“Meditation may be done in silence & stillness, by using voice & sound, or by engaging the body in movement. All forms emphasize the training of attention.”
― Sharon Salzberg, The Power of Meditation: A 28-Day Programme for Real Happiness

“If you’re reading these words, perhaps it’s because something has kicked open the door for you, and you’re ready to embrace change. It isn’t enough to appreciate change from afar, or only in the abstract, or as something that can happen to other people but not to you. We need to create change for ourselves, in a workable way, as part of our everyday lives.”
― Sharon Salzberg, The Power of Meditation: A 28-Day Programme for Real Happiness