Pema Chodron Quotes
But all the time our warmth and brilliance are right here. This is who we really are. We are one blink of an eye away from being fully awake.
Tonglen practice begins to dissolve the illusion that each of us is alone with this personal suffering that no one else can understand.
Wholeheartedly do what it takes to awaken your clear-seeing intelligence, but one day at a time, one moment at a time. If we live that way, we will benefit this earth.
Blaming is a way to protect your heart, trying to protect what is soft and open and tender in yourself.
Each time you stay present with fear and uncertainty, you're letting go of a habitual way of finding security and comfort.
Once you create a self-justifying storyline, your emotional entrapment within it quadruples.
Clarity and decisiveness come from the willingness to slow down, to listen to and look at what’s happening.
Patience takes courage. It is not an ideal state of calm. In fact, when we practice patience we will see our agitation far more clearly.
We are undoing a pattern... It's the human pattern: we project onto the world a zillion possibilities of attaining resolution.
Patience has nothing to do with suppression. In fact, it has everything to do with a gentle, honest relationship with yourself.
The most complete and true happiness comes in moments when you feel right there, completely present, with no ideas about good and bad, right and wrong - just a sense of open heart and open mind.
Compassion practice is daring. It involves learning to relax and allowing ourselves to move gently toward what scares us.
The real thing that we renounce is the tenacious hope that we could be saved from being who we are.
The second noble truth says that this resistance is the...mechanism of what we call ego, that resisting life causes suffering.
All ego really is, is our opinions, which we take to be solid, real, and the absolute truth about how things are.
The root of suffering is resisting the certainty that no matter what the circumstances, uncertainty is all we truly have.
It is a commitment to respect whatever life brings that we develop wholehearted determination to use discomfort as an opportunity for awakening, rather than trying to make it disappear.
What happens with you when you begin to feel uneasy, unsettled, queasy? Notice the panic, notice when you instantly grab for something. (51)
It becomes increasingly clear that we won’t be free of self-destructive patterns unless we develop a compassionate understanding of what they are.
There is no cultivation of patience when your pattern is to just try to seek harmony and smooth everything out. Patience implies willingness to be alive rather than trying to seek harmony.
The Buddha taught that we're not actually in control, which is a pretty scary idea. But when you let things be as they are, you will be a much happier, more balanced, compassionate person.
Don’t get caught up in hopes of what you’ll achieve and how good your situation will be some day in the future. What you do right now is what matters.
The more we witness our emotional reactions and understand how they work, the easier it is to refrain.
Life's work is to wake up, to let the things that enter your life wake you up rather than put you to sleep.
At some point, we realize that what we do for ourselves benefits others, and what we do for others benefits us.
The third noble truth says that the cessation of suffering is letting go of holding on to ourselves.
Do I prefer to grow up and relate to life directly, or do I choose to live and die in fear?
If you work with your mind, that will alleviate all the suffering that seems to come from the outside.
It is possible to move through the drama of our lives without believing so earnestly in the character that we play.
There's something delicious about finding fault with something. And that can be including finding fault with one's self, you know?
If it's painful, you become willing not just to endure it but also to let it awaken your heart and soften you. You learn to embrace it.
Meditation is not about getting out of ourselves or achieving something better. It is about getting in touch with what you already are.
Surrendering, letting go of possessiveness, and complete nonattachment-all are synonyms for accumulating merit.
Life is glorious, but life is also wretched. It is both...Life is glorious, but life is also wretched. It is both.
When you open the door and invite in all sentient beings as your guests, you have to drop your agenda.
Opening to the world begins to benefit ourselves and others simultaneously. The more we relate with others, the more quickly we discover where we're blocked.
