“Culture is a kind of mass hallucination, designed for middle-aged people. Because culture works best for them, you know, when you're less than middle-aged you're trying to figure out the rules of this collective hallucination, if you're past middleage and you have been paying attention you know it's bullshit so you don't care anymore.”

“The only reason something feels really good, it’s because you didn’t know it before. If you fall in love, it’s because it captures you and sweeps you off your feet. If you didn’t have anxiety, then you wouldn’t have passion for anything. The reason we have anxiety is because you care and you’re thoughtful.”

“Love is when two people feel the same way about each other and none of them have any recollection of how is started. Of how it began. Love is two people knowing how much they care. Without having to remind each other constantly. Without making each other feel left out. Love is when two people just know. When they understand each other without the use of words. When they speak their own language and no one else seems to get it but them. Love is two people who stay. Who form a bond as they go on. Who can't seem to make sense of their own lives without each other. Love is kind. Two people being patient with each other. Two people giving one another time. Their own time. Every precious moment that could be spent doing something else. Love is two people growing together. Giving each other guidance. Giving each other the kind of spark that sets their souls on fire. Love is showing it. That you care. That you appreciate. That you are willing to sacrifice anything to make the relationship work. Love is two people. Two hearts. Two souls. Two bodies. Fusing. Together. Feeling what the other feels. Knowing what the other knows. And never doubting any of it. Always pushing for greatness. Together. Always seeking a little more.”

“Become your own soulmate, first. The love you're waiting on someone else to give you is a desire to know yourself. It is projection of wanting to see yourself more kindly, through your someone else's eyes. The very way you most long to be loved is the way you need to love yourself to see your own potential, to care for yourself, to hear the sound of your own approval, to build a life you are proud of. Until you are your own soulmate, you will be left asking others to fill needs they were never meant to meet.”

“Spiritual awakening is not a special feeling, state, or experience. It is not a goal or destination, somewhere to reach in the future. As the Buddha was trying to tell us (though few actually listened), it is not a superhuman achievement or attainment. You don’t have to travel to India to find it. It is not a special state of perfection reserved for the lucky or the privileged few. It is not an exclusive club. It is not an out-of-body experience, and it does not involve living in a cave, shutting off all your beautiful senses, detaching yourself from the realities of this modern world. It cannot be transmitted to you by a fancy bearded (or non-bearded) guru, nor can it be taken away or lost. You do not have to become anyone’s disciple or follower, or give away all your possessions. You do not have to join a cult. You do not have to follow anyone.

Rather, is a constant and ancient invitation – throughout every moment of your life – to trust and embrace yourself exactly as you are, in all your glorious imperfection. It is about being fully present and awake to each precious moment, coming out of the epic movie of past and future (“The Story of Me”) and showing up for life, knowing that even your feelings of non-acceptance are accepted here. It is about radically opening up to this extraordinary gift of existence, embracing both the pain and the joy of it, the bliss and the sorrow, the ecstasy and the overwhelm, the certainty and the doubt. Knowing that you are never separate from the Whole, never broken, never truly lost.”

“As long as you care
something will always hurt.”

“You feel good, you feel bad, and these feelings are bubbling from your own unconsciousness, from your own past. Nobody is responsible except you. Nobody can make you angry, and nobody can make you happy.”

“Your initial reaction is usually your past trying to impose itself on your present.”