Pema Chodron Quotes
We don't set out to save the world; we set out to wonder how other people are doing and to reflect on how our actions affect other people's hearts.
We can begin to open our hearts to others when we have no hope of getting anything back. We just do it for its own sake.
Only to the extent that we expose ourselves over and over to annihilation can that which is indestructible in us be found.
Use what seems like poison as medicine. Use your personal suffering as the path to compassion for all beings.
Generosity is an activity that loosens us up. By offering whatever we can - a dollar, a flower, a word of encouragement - we are training in letting go.
True compassion does not come from wanting to help out those less fortunate than ourselves but from realizing our kinship with all beings.
Deep down in the human spirit, there is a reservoir of courage. It is always available, always waiting to be discovered.
Somehow, in the process of trying to deny that things are always changing, we lose our sense of the sacredness of life. We tend to forget that we are part of the natural scheme of things.
So even if the hot loneliness is there, and for 1.6 seconds we sit with that restlessness when yesterday we couldn't sit for even one, that's the journey of the warrior. (68)
No one ever tells us to stop running away from fear...the advice we usually get is to sweeten it up, smooth it over, take a pill, or distract ourselves, but by all means make it go away. (5)
Whatever you are doing, take the attitude of wanting it directly or indirectly to benefit others. Take the attitude of wanting it to increase your experience of kinship with your fellow beings.
We are not human beings having a spiritual experience, we are spiritual beings having a human experience and Infinite love is the only truth; everything else is an illusion.
Share the wealth. Be generous with your joy. Give away what you most want. Be generous with your insights and delights.
To cultivate equanimity we practice catching ourselves when we feel attraction or aversion, before it hardens into grasping or negativity.
The next step is to learn to communicate with the people that you feel are causing your pain and misery- not to learn how to prove them wrong and yourself right but how to communicate from the heart.
Suffering begins to dissolve when we can question the belief or the hope that there's anywhere to hide.
Welcome the present moment as if you had invited it. Why? Because it is all we ever have.
This genuine heart of sadness can teach us great compassion. It can humble us when we're arrogant and soften us when we are unkind.
When you have made good friends with yourself, your situation will be more friendly too.
As long as our orientation is toward perfection or success, we will never learn about unconditional friendship with ourselves, nor will we find compassion.
Although we have the potential to experience the freedom of a butterfly, we mysteriously prefer the small and fearful cocoon of ego.
Simply be present with your own shifting energies and with the unpredictabilit y of life as it unfolds.
It isn't the things that happen to us in our lives that cause us to suffer, it's how we relate to the things that happen to us that causes us to suffer.
What if rather than being disheartened by the ambiguity, the uncertainty of life, we accepted it and relaxed into it?
Since death is certain and the time of death is uncertain, what is the most important thing?
If you ask why we meditate, I would say it's so we can become more flexible and tolerant to the present moment.
It's a transformative experience to simply pause instead of immediately filling up space.
The essence of our whole path is in that place of discomfort, and what do we do with it?
This very moment is the perfect teacher, and, lucky for us, it's with us wherever we go.
When there's a disappointment, I don't know if it's the end of the story. It may just be the beginning of a great adventure.
The truth is that good and bad coexist; sour and sweet coexist. They aren't really opposed to each other.
The point is that our true nature is not some ideal that we have to live up to. It's who we are right now, and that's what we can make friends with and celebrate.
This moving away from comfort and security, this stepping out into what is unknown, uncharted and shaky - that's called liberation.
One can appreciate & celebrate each moment — there’s nothing more sacred. There’s nothing more vast or absolute. In fact, there’s nothing more!
If we're willing to give up hope that insecurity and pain can be eliminated, then we can have the courage to relax with the groundlessness of our situation. This is the first step on the path.
Feeling irritated, restless, afraid, and hopeless is a reminder to listen more carefully.
There's a reason you can learn from everything: you have basic wisdom, basic intelligence, and basic goodness.
Awareness is the key. Do we see the stories that we're telling ourselves and question their validity?
Most spiritual experiences begin with suffering. They begin with groundlessness. They begin when the rug has been pulled out from under us.