Brenda Shoshanna Quotes

Unless we base our sense of identity upon the truth of who we are, it is impossible to attain true happiness.

If one's sense of self is obtained through the eyes of another it is always subject to being lost.

When we do not reject our suffering, or add anything to it, pain is simply pain. It is what we add to our pain that turns it into suffering.

What seems good turns bad, what seems bad turns good. It is an endless cycle.

We create a mask to meet the masks of others. Then we wonder why we cannot love, and why we feel so alone.

A time of uncertainty, of not knowing exactly where we're headed, or what kind of choice to make is a Zen moment.

Do not make this practice a source of pressure, compulsion, anxiety or pride. It is none of these. Zazen is simply a way to find your true home.

All the insight we will ever need to live well will come from fully being who and where we are.

The best defense against being hurt is to feel good about yourself and the way a person responds to you says more about them, than about you.

Who you are is always enough. If your partner wants something different, it does not reflect upon you, but upon their needs and fantasies.

From the Zen view all beings are in the grip of the three poisons, greed, anger and delusion (ignorance).

Whatever we can't love or accept in another, is a mirror of something we can't love or accept in ourselves.

All conflict we experience in the world, is a conflict within our own selves.

We turn pain into suffering by adding on all kinds of beliefs, interpretations and judgments to it.

What we pay attention to expands. What we pay attention to we become.

Zen practice asks you not to worry about who you 'should' become. Find out who you are right now.

We learn the process of emptying out, cleaning house, both within and without.

In the Zen Way we focus upon each breath, each day, each moment and experience it totally. One complete breath brings the next.

In a relationship if you are giving and getting nothing back in return, stop giving so much, and spend time being. Give to yourself, be who you are.

Fear of the future and longing for the past are major factors which impede appropriate action.

Change is the very basis of our life, not to be fought, to be welcomed and tasted, to be seen for the gift it truly is.

All experiences are welcomed and fully digested, not judged good or bad.

God's guiding hand, the guiding Voice, resting lightly upon us is best felt and heard when we are silent and still.