A human being is a part of the whole called by us “universe,” a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.
-Albert Einstein
Compassion is the ultimate and most meaningful embodiment of emotional maturity. It is through compassion that a person achieves the highest
peak and deepest reach in his or her search for self-fulfillment.
-Arthur Jersild
Brene Brown studies human connection — our ability to empathize, belong, love. In a poignant, funny talk at TEDxHouston, she shares a deep insight from her research, one that sent her on a personal quest to know herself as well as to understand humanity.
www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability.html
If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.
-HH the Dalai Lama
Jill Bolte Taylor: “My Stroke of Insight”
Watch this inspiring video by a neuroscientist describing her experience of having a stroke and the lessons it taught her about how we can choose to live our lives.
www.ted.com/index.php/talks/jill_bolte_taylor_s_powerful_stroke_of_insight.html
At night I walked along the shore where so many spend the day gathering shells for their collections. A woman walked among the starfishes that waves and tide had stranded on the beach, picking up each tenderly and casting it out to sea. I haled her and asked, “With so many millions left dying along these sands night after night after night, what difference can you possibly make?” She gathered up another and arched it high over the water. “I made a difference for that one.” Silently I sought and picked up a still-living star, spinning it far out into the waves.
-Loren Eiseley (1907-1977), adapted from The Star Thrower
We frail humans are at one time capable of the greatest good and, at the same time, capable of the greatest evil. Change will only come about when each of us takes up the daily struggle in ourselves to be more forgiving, compassionate, loving, and above all joyful in the knowledge that, by some miracle of grace, we can change as those around us can change too.
-Mairead Maguire
Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase. Just take the first step.
-Martin Luther King
We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.
-Viktor Frankl
When you are angry, you are going to make the best speech you will ever regret.
-William Ury
“An Autobiography in Five Chapters”
by Portia Nelson
Chapter 1
I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in.
I am lost … I am helpless.
It isn’t my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.
Chapter 2
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don’t see it.
I fall in, again.
I can’t believe I am in the same place.
But it isn’t my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.
Chapter 3
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I fall in… it’s a habit… but, my eyes are open.
I know where I am.
It is my fault.
I get out immediately.
Chapter 4
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.
Chapter 5
I walk down a different street.