If We Deny Our Anger, Our Pain,

Whenever We Seek To Avoid The Responsibility For Our Own Behavior, We Do So By Attempting To Give That Responsibility To Some Other Individual Or Organization Or Entity. But This Means We Then Give Away Our Power To That Entity.

Listening Well Is An Exercise Of Attention And By Necessity Hard Work. It Is Because They Do Not Realize This Or Because They Are Not Willing To Do The Work That Most People Do Not Listen Well.

When We Love Someone Our Love Becomes Demonstrable Or Real Only Through Our Exertion - Through The Fact That For That Someone (or For Ourself) We Take An Extra Step Or Walk An Extra Mile. Love Is Not Effortless. To The Contrary, Love Is Effortful.

The Time And The Quality Of The Time That Their Parents Devote To Them Indicate To Children The Degree To Which They Are Valued By Their Parents. . . . When Children Know That They Are Valued, When They Truly Feel Valued In The Deepest Parts Of Themselves, Then They Feel Valuable. This Knowledge Is Worth More Than Any Gold.

But For The First Time, I Had A Religious Identity. I Had Come Home. And So I Called Myself A Zen Buddhist At The Age Of 18.