SSSharon Salzberg

317 collected words

Sharon Salzberg

Dates not recorded

Name supplied in the contributor-provided quotation collection. Basic attribution label; identity, lifetime and quotation authenticity have not been independently verified.

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Quotations and sayings

01Undated

You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection

Sharon Salzberg / quote

02Undated

You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere. You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.

Sharon Salzberg / quote

03Undated

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 / quote

04Undated

Smiling at someone can have significant health consequences.

Sharon Salzberg / quote

05Undated

Seeking happiness is not the problem. The problem is that we often do not know where and how to find genuine happiness and so make the mistakes that cause suffering for ourselves & others.

Sharon Salzberg / quote

06Undated

When you recognize and reflect on even one good thing about yourself, you are building a bridge to a place of kindness and caring.

Sharon Salzberg / quote

07Undated

Never feel ashamed of your longing for happiness.

Sharon Salzberg / quote

08Undated

Clinging to our ideas of perfection isolates us from life and is a barrier.

Sharon Salzberg / quote

09Undated

For any marginalized group to change the story that society tells about them takes courage and perseverance.

Sharon Salzberg / quote

10Undated

The idea that traumatic residues—or unresolved stories—can be inherited is groundbreaking.

Sharon Salzberg / quote

11Undated

The unconscious mind is a vast repository of experiences and associations that sorts things out much faster than the slow-moving conscious mind.

Sharon Salzberg / quote

12Undated

The practice of sympathetic joy is rooted in inner development. It’s not a matter of learning techniques to “make friends and influence people.” Instead, we build the foundations of our own happiness. When our own cup is full, we more easily share it with others.

Sharon Salzberg / quote

13Undated

Sometimes people in abusive situations think they’re responsible for the other person’s happiness or that they’re going to fix them and make them feel better. The practice of equanimity teaches that it’s not all up to you to make someone else happy.

Sharon Salzberg / quote

14Undated

Buddhism has a term for the happiness we feel at someone else’s success or good fortune. Sympathetic joy, as it is known, invites us to celebrate for others.

Sharon Salzberg / quote

15Undated

Even as we recognize our resentment, bitterness, or jealousy, we can also honor our own wish to be happy, to feel free.

Sharon Salzberg / quote

16Undated

The more we identify and acknowledge moments when we’re unable to share in someone else’s pleasure and ask ourselves whether another person’s happiness truly jeopardizes our own, the more we pave the way for experiencing sympathetic joy

Sharon Salzberg / quote

17Undated

The more we practice sympathetic joy, the more we come to realize that the happiness we share with others is inseparable from our own happiness.

Sharon Salzberg / quote

18Undated

It is awareness of both our shared pain and our longing for happiness that links us to other people and helps us to turn toward them with compassion.

Sharon Salzberg / quote

19Undated

The difference between a life laced through with frustration and one sustained by happiness depends on whether it is motivated by self-hatred or by real love for oneself.

Sharon Salzberg / quote

20Undated

When we can step back even briefly from our hurt, sorrow, and anger, when we put our faith in the possibility of change, we create the possibility for non-judgmental inquiry that aims for healing rather than victory.

Sharon Salzberg / quote

21Undated

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 / quote

22Undated

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 / quote

23Undated

Mindfulness helps us get better at seeing the difference between what’s happening and the stories we tell ourselves about what’s happening, stories that get in the way of direct experience. Often such stories treat a fleeting state of mind as if it were our entire and permanent self.

Sharon Salzberg / quote

24Undated

Mindfulness, also called wise attention, helps us see what we’re adding to our experiences, not only during meditation sessions but also elsewhere.

Sharon Salzberg / quote