I just listened to one of Leonard Cohen’s interviews he gave recently. And suddenly I felt such a deep sense of inner peace, for he speaks the truth always.

Leonard says that everyone suffers. Knowing this leads to kindness.

We are the one person alive on the planet and yet we are all different.

Once that is seen, what else is there to do but live your little big life?

There are many teachers out there presuming the ability to give us joy. They can’t.

The reason is that joy isn’t given; it is something that can only happen when the time is right.

Suffering, however, is a given. We are all “born in chains.”

Our time to be taken out of Egypt is not in our control or in anyone else’s.

But it will happen and in the meantime, be as kind as you can to yourself.

A twinkle in your eye is more powerful than you might imagine.

Vicki Woodyard