Tara Brach Quotes
Mindfulness is a pause - the space between stimulus and response: that's where choice lies.
Stopping the endless pursuit of getting somewhere else is the perhaps most beautiful offering we can make to our spirit.
We can find true refuge within our own hearts and minds-right here, right now, in the midst of our moment-to-momen t lives.
On this sacred path of Radical Acceptance, rather than striving for perfection, we discover how to love ourselves into wholeness.
There are some things we can't choose, but in being present we can choose how we want to relate to them
Sometimes the easiest way to appreciate ourselves is by looking through the eyes of someone who loves us.
There is something wonderfully bold and liberating about saying yes to our entire imperfect and messy life.
The most powerful healing arises from the simple intention to love the life within you, unconditionally, with as much tenderness and presence as possible.
When we relax about imperfection, we no longer lose our life moments in the pursuit of being different and in the fear of what is wrong.
When someone says to us, as Thich Nhat Hanh suggests, "Darling, I care about your suffering," a deep healing begins.
The renowned seventh-century Zen master Seng-tsan taught that true freedom is being "without anxiety about imperfection.
When we put down ideas of what life should be like, we are free to wholeheartedly say yes to our life as it is.
By regarding ourselves with kindness, we begin to dissolve the identity of an isolated, deficient self. This creates the grounds for including others in an unconditionally loving heart.
The boundary to what we can accept is the boundary to our freedom.
If our hearts are ready for anything, we are touched by the beauty and poetry and mystery that fill our world.
The muscles used to make a smile actually send a biochemical message to our nervous system that it is safe to relax the flight of freeze response.
Observing desire without acting on it enlarges our freedom to choose how we live.
Pain is not wrong. Reacting to pain as wrong initiates the trance of unworthiness. The moment we believe something is wrong, our world shrinks and we lose ourselves in the effort to combat the pain.
When we're awake in our bodies and sense, the world comes alive. Wisdom, creativity, and love are discovered as we relax and awaken through our bodies.
We, like the Mother of the World, become the compassionate presence that can hold, with tenderness, the rising and passing waves of suffering.
Awakening self-compassion is often the greatest challenge people face on the spiritual path.
Self-judgment continues to arise - it's a strong habit - but the fact that I made a conscious commitment to recognize it has helped me stop feeding the story of being unworthy.
With mindfulness training we are able to recognize when we get lost in our mental dramas, and bring a kind and nonreactive presence to the feelings that accompany them.
The trance of unworthiness keeps the sweetness of belonging out of reach. The path to "the sweetness of belonging," is acceptance - acceptance of ourselves and acceptance of others without judgment.
Perhaps the biggest tragedy of our lives is that freedom is possible, yet we can pass our years trapped in the same old patterns.
As we free ourselves from the suffering of 'something is wrong with me, 'we trust and express the fullness of who we are.'
But this revolutionary act of treating ourselves tenderly can begin to undo the aversive messages of a lifetime.
Even a few moments of offering lovingkindness can reconnect you with the purity of your loving heart.
In the process of deeply accepting our own inner experience, instead of being identified with a story of a limited self, we realize the compassion and wakefulness that is our essence.
Stories about ourselves and about the world continually arise in our minds and shape our beliefs about reality.
We're so used to presenting ourselves and getting approval according to our achievements that it's difficult to be authentic and trust that we'll be accepted just as we are.