Sharon Salzberg is a founder of the Insight Meditation Society and author of Loving Kindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness and Heart as Wide as the World: Living with Mindfulness, Wisdom, and Compassion. In this interview conducted by Michael Toms, she talks about Buddhism as a pragmatic path that enables individuals to move through suffering and not be broken by it.
She defines mindfulness as "being aware of what our present experience is without necessarily reacting according to the habits of our minds." She reveals ways to practice loving kindness, which for her means "aiming the heart toward care." It is possible for us to spread compassion even in everyday situations such as waiting in a line at the supermarket. Salzberg pays tribute to her teachers, the Dalai Lama, and other enlightened beings who have helped her see that it is possible to develop a loving heart and to be all that we were meant to be.