We will find tenderness in sorrow and in gratitude. We will find it behind the hardness of rage and in the shakiness of fear. It is available in loneliness as well as in kindness.

Pema Chodron

Gradually through meditation, we begin to notice that there are gaps in our internal dialogue. In the midst of continually talking to ourselves, we experience a pause, as if awakening from a dream. We recognize our capacity to relax with the clarity, the space, the open-ended; awareness that already exists in our minds. We experience moments of being right here that feel simple, direct, and uncluttered.

Pema Chodron

The Buddha said that we are never separated from enlightenment. Even at the times we feel most stuck, we are never alienated from the awakened state.

I love this insight from Pema Chodron:

Egolessness is a flexible identity. It manifests as inquisitiveness, as adaptability, as humor, as playfulness.