If you have strength of character, you can use that as fuel to not only be a survivor but to transcend simply being a survivor, use an internal alchemy to turn something rotten and horrible into gold.

Every journey taken always includes the path not taken, the detour through hell, the crossroads of indecision and the long way home.

Pride is nothing more than false courage without long term solutions.

Never sever ties with a family member you once loved. Each of you might be on different spiritual paths, but both trails are leading you home.

I don’t know where I’m going on this path. I don’t know what I’m doing with my life. You had to be lost, before you could be found. These are the truths. You had to be confused, before you could find clarity; you had to suffer, before you could find peace. These were the only ways, life could happen. Of course you were confused before you found clarity. If you weren't confused, then you would already be clear. Of course you were lost before you were found. If you were already found, then you wouldn't be lost. Of course there would be suffering before peace. If there was already peace, then there wouldn't be suffering. One necessarily came before the other.

Can you allow yourself to be impaled on the present moment?

Let whatever happens, be what needs to happen, so that I may awaken.

It is the rub that polishes the jewel,” Enso Roshi says. “Nobody ever gets to nirvana without going through samsara. Nobody ever gets to heaven, without going through hell. The center of all things, the truth, is surrounded by demons.

The most important journey you will take in your life will usually be the one of self transformation. Often, this is the scariest because it requires the greatest changes, in your life.

Life gives you exactly what you need to awaken.

Winning or losing achieves the same result--change.