Sometimes we mistake patience for weakness, but the patient person often realizes that it’s much more important for another person to discover his or her own gifts and shortcomings–the patient person doesn’t feel a need...

Our culture values independence and isolation far too much, it seems to me–we have a hard time making ourselves part of things, of making ourselves responsible to others, and trusting others to be there for...

The world is in sore need of good listeners. And in our own lives, it’s amazing to recognize just how valuable listening can be for us. How many mistakes have you made because you didn’t...

Education is a choice. We don’t become educated by watching television, and we don’t learn a whole lot having similar conversations with the same, safe people day after day. Our education comes from pushing up...

We lose our ability to live fully if we neglect or ignore our responsibility to the other people who share this planet with us. We simply cannot reach our full potential without the insights and...

So it’s important to remember that our job isn’t to solve other people’s problems for them, but to help them to discover the ways that are most effective and most practical for them to deal...

advice” in a spirit of love and helpfulness, but we can be much more helpful when we help them to find their own ways of changing things. It can be incredibly freeing to spend an...

We were all made with the potential to be the people we are supposed to be. We all have souls and we all have minds and we all have wills. Many people look at the...

When we separate ourselves from the rest of the world, the world becomes a lonely and difficult place to live in. When we see ourselves as completely separate, we cannot call upon the power and...

Life is not about control or making things happen in the ways we think they should happen. In fact, it’s rather arrogant for us to be on this planet that’s been here for so long...

I wish you all the best in life—good health, good relationships, and all of your true needs fulfilled.” Of course, if you want to pray to God in the form in which you conceive of...

Ah, Walker—if I could explain all of humanity’s foibles, I’d be a rich man indeed, at least as far as money goes. I believe people are like that because of fear. They fear being loved...

I started to discover the meaning of happiness when I started to discover–and practice–the art of acceptance. When I started to accept life for what it was and I started to accept whatever situation I...

Some people search out solitude without even thinking that they need to do so–it’s an innate urge with them, something that they do as a matter of course, without even thinking about the psychological benefits...

It’s easy to get lost in our own heads. It’s easy to allow the thoughts and worries and plans and hopes to take on their own lives and control our minds in such a way...

We must trust that what we’re doing has a purpose. We must realize that we’re not here to make kids conform or perform, but that we’re here to help them to develop their own unique...

If I’m to have a character that others admire, I need to focus on developing that character. I need to make decisions that are honorable and honest. I need to focus on others rather than...

Unfortunately, we don’t have all that many good examples to follow. The people that our cultures label as “successful” are the ones who have become wealthy or famous or celebrities, but the truly successful people–those...

Am I corrupted if I believe that the people who think alike are more admirable and estimable than those who think for themselves? If no one thought differently, then where would our innovations come from?...

Our culture doesn’t seem to value competence as much as it used to. Now we seem to want to do and get everything as quickly as possible, which often leads to mediocre work and products....

This need to be right has put a huge burden on me, one that I never deserved to have to carry. Part of it, I know, is cultural–in this age of information at a moment’s...

It seems that the more we learn about our work, the easier and the more interesting it becomes to us. Tasks that used to be tedious now make sense, and we see how they’re related...

The simple truth is that love is a part of who we are, not something that others “give” to us if we’re worthy of it. We’re taught that if we just find that right person,...

Look at it this way—before any of this wood became parts of the shelves or the desk or the chair, all of it was in pieces—just pieces of wood. But the wood was full of...