Pema Chodron Quotes

Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know.

Be kinder to yourself. And then let your kindness flood the world.

Being satisfied with what we already have is a magical golden key to being alive in a full, unrestricted, and inspired way.

So war and peace start in the human heart. Whether that heart is open or whether that heart closes has global implications.

It isn't what happens to us that causes us to suffer; it's what we say to ourselves about what happens.

All you need to know is that the future is wide open and you are about to create it by what you do.

To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest.

Feel the feelings and drop the story.

The truth you believe and cling to makes you unavailable to hear anything new.

All situations teach you, and often it's the tough ones that teach you best.

Whatever happens in your life, joyful or painful, do not be swept away by reactivity. Be patient with yourself and don't lose your sense of perspective.

All the wars, all the hatred, all the ignorance in the world come out of being so invested in our opinions.

Openness doesn’t come from resisting our fears but rather from getting to know them well.

Rejoicing in ordinary things is not sentimental or trite. It actually takes guts. Each time we drop our complaints and allow everyday good fortune to inspire us, we enter the warrior's world.

Our true nature is like a precious jewel: although it may be temporarily buried in mud, it remains completely brilliant and unaffected. We simply have to uncover it.

Inner #‎ peace begins the moment you choose not to allow another person or event to control your #‎ emotions

The future is completely open and we are writing it moment to moment.

You are the sky. Everything else - it’s just the weather.

People get into a heavy-duty sin and guilt trip, feeling that if things are going wrong, that means that they did something bad and they are being punished. That's not the idea at all.

Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity.

Impermanence is a principle of harmony. When we don't struggle against it, we are in harmony with reality.

When we are willing to stay even a moment with uncomfortable energy, we gradually learn not to fear it.

Sticking with that uncertainty, getting the knack of relaxing in the midst of chaos, learning not to panic-this is the spiritual path.

Usually we think that brave people have no fear. The truth is that they are intimate with fear.

We work on ourselves in order to help others, but also we help others in order to work on ourselves.

Anything we experience, no matter how challenging, can become an open pathway to awakening.

Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It’s a relationship between equals.

Let difficulty transform you. And it will. In my experience, we just need help in learning how not to run away.

When you begin to touch your heart or let your heart be touched, you begin to discover that it's bottomless.

As our kindness for ourselves grows, so does our kindness for other people.

There's nothing more important on our spiritual path than developing gentleness to oneself.

Every moment is unique, unknown, completely fresh.

Rejoicing in the good fortune of others is a practice that can help us when we feel emotionally shut down and unable to connect with others. Rejoicing generates good will.

Never give up on yourself. Then you will never give up on others.

The central question of a warrior's training is not how we avoid uncertainty and fear but how we relate to discomfort.

Use your life to wake you up.

If you follow your heart, you're going to find that it is often extremely inconvenient.

By not knowing, not hoping to know and not acting like we know what's happening, we begin to access our inner strength.

If we knew that tonight we were going to go blind, we would take a long, last real look at every blade of grass, every cloud formation, every speck of dust, every rainbow, raindrop-everything.

The best spiritual instruction is when you wake up in the morning and say, 'I wonder what's going to happen today.' And then carry that kind of curiosity through your life.

As each breath goes out, let it be the end of that moment and the birth of something new. . .

I can't overestimate the importance of accepting ourselves exactly as we are right now, not as we wish we were or think we ought to be.

Don’t worry about achieving. Don’t worry about perfection. Just be there each moment as best you can.

Unconditional good heart toward others is not even a possibility unless we attend to our own demons.

One of the deepest habitual patterns that we have is to feel that now is not enough.

Let your curiosity be greater than your fear.

Never underestimate the power of compassionately recognizing what's going on.

You build inner strength through embracing the totality of your experience, both the delightful parts and the difficult parts.

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.

The most difficult times for many of us are the ones we give ourselves.