We change our behavior when the pain of staying the same becomes greater than the pain of changing. Consequences give us the pain that motivates us to change.

Compassion is an action word with no boundaries.

The classroom, with all its limitations, remains a location of possibility. In that field of possibility we have the opportunity to labor for freedom, to demand of ourselves and our comrades, an openness of mind and heart that allows us to face reality even as we collectively imagine ways to move beyond boundaries, to transgress. This is education as the practice of freedom.

Be firm when you set boundaries. Stop returning to the people, habits, and beliefs that brought you unhappiness.

Do we really have the right to take care of ourselves? Do we really have the right to set boundaries? Do we really have the right to be direct and say what we need to say? You bet we do.

One of the hardest obstacles I’ve had to overcome in my life was not understanding how to draw healthy boundaries. I finally learned it’s perfectly OK to say no.