Heart Like a River ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

If you pour a hand of salt into a cup of water - it becomes undrinkable. But, if you pour the salt into a river, people can continue to draw the river to cook, wash, and drink. The river is immense and it has the capacity to receive, embrace, and transform. When our hearts are small, our understanding and compassion are limited, and, we suffer. We can't accept or tolerate others and their shortcomings and we demand that they change. But, when our hearts expand, these same things don't make us suffer anymore. We have a lot of understanding, and compassion, and can embrace others. We accept others as they are, and then they have a chance to transform. So, the big question is - how do we help our hearts grow?

Hello, I realized I best provide some assistance here. Dali Lama's book, "How to Expand Love" does a very Buddhist style (very physiological and deals with some surprising meditations that work to bring love to those whom you did not). (a link to some reviews:

As is the case with Dalai Lama's writing, the book is small and easy to read, but shows you literally how to expand love by a series of meditations 1) with someone you love, 2) a neutral person in your life, and when ready 3) the person whom you loath the most. Some religious and spiritual people do similar less-involved things when praying for their enemies to have the best of everything in life and happiness, et cetera. But this is like that on steroids and I encourage anyone interested in this to give it a try and see what changes. I'm in no way affiliated except by practice.