So here we meet again, in this advanced spiritual training of the human experience, with the earth as our classroom. The moment is upon us to leave behind what we have once known, and to open up to the great mystery of life again. Our souls leapt from the divine oneness through the river of forgetfulness and now dive into a body and a life. What a journey that leap begins!

- Alana Fairchild, Australian author

Love is something you and I must have. We must have it because our spirit feeds upon it. We must have it because without it we become weak and faint. Without love our self-esteem weakens. Without it our courage fails. Without love we can no longer look out confidently at the world. We turn inward and begin to feed upon our own personalities, and little by little we destroy ourselves. With it we are creative. With it we march tirelessly. With it, and with it alone, we are able to sacrifice for others.

- Chief Dan George, First Nation actor, musician, poet and author.

They are survivors. If you don't have respect for their strength, you can't be of any help. It's a privilege that they let you in - there's no reason they should trust you, none. You can't know their terror. It's your worst nightmare come true, a nightmare from which you can never awaken. It's unrelenting. There has been no safety: no one, no time, nothing - all was tainted. Hope was obliterated time and time again. That they are in our office is in itself a supreme act of valor.

- Anonymous psychotherapist.

True self-interest teaches selflessness. Heaven and earth endure because they are not simply selfish but exist in behalf of all creation. The wise leader, knowing this, keeps egocentricity in check and by doing so becomes even more effective. Enlightened leadership is service, not selfishness. The leader grows more and lasts longer by placing the well-being of all above the well-being of self alone. Paradox: By being selfless, the leader enhances self.

This paradox, that our independent individuality is dependent on intimate, unitive, empathic relationship, can be called the dependent-independent paradox. This principal can be observed in all healthy and intimate relationships throughout the life span, from the infant-caregiver relationship to peer,  mentor, and community relationships, and even to spiritual relationship with divinity or the ultimate as described by many religions.

- John Firman and Ann Gila, The Primal Wound

Trying too hard produces unexpected results:

• The flashy person lacks stability.
  
• Trying to rush matters gets you nowhere.
  
• Trying to appear brilliant is not enlightened.
  
• Insecure leaders try to promote themselves.
  
• Impotent leaders capitalize on their position.
  
• It is not very holy to point out how holy you are.
  

All of these behaviors come from insecurity. They feed insecurity. None of them helps the work. None contributes to the wise person's health.

The wise person who knows how things happen does not do these things

Consider:

When you think that you are good, what are you comparing yourself with? Perfection? Or your own insecurities?

Do you want fame? Fame will complicate your life and compromise simplicity in your comings and goings.

Is it money? The effort of trying to get rich will steal your time.

Any form of egocentricity, of selfishness, obscures your deeper self and blinds you to how things happen.

The logical mind runs away from drowning.
Lovers accept drowning
in the sea as their destiny.
The logical mind finds consolation
in reaching a level of comfort in life.
Lovers are focused beyond their own comfort.

- Rumi, Sufi poet

In a real sense all life is inter-related. All (beings) are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be…

- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail

Love guides us through travails that seem improbable, if not impossible. It does not shy away from any challenge, from any cause. It cannot. It is just love's way. Love says to us there is always another way...

Perhaps you are scratching your head quizzically or are in deepest despair because you appear to have met a dead end, a frowning no, or a dismissive laugh upon your quest to bring love alive. So then: do you choose to believe in love, or in the death of sorts your heart faces? Your heart shall rally!

- Alana Fairchild, Australian author

For I am a bear of very little brain, and long words bother me.

- A.A. Milne, from The World of Winnie The Pooh