Pema Chodron Quotes

A warrior accepts that we can never know what will happen to us next.

There's a reason you can learn from everything: you have basic wisdom, basic intelligence, and basic goodness.

Even if you don't feel appreciation, just look. Feel what you feel; take an interest and be curious.

We are all capable of becoming fundamentalists because we get addicted to other people's wrongness.

it is only to the extent that we are willing to expose ourselves again and again to annihilation that we are able to find that part of ourselves that is indestructible.

If there's any possibility for enlightenment, it's right now, not at some future time. Now is the time.

Buddhism itself is all about empowering yourself, not about getting what you want.

How do we cultivate the conditions for joy to expand? We train in staying present.

Whatever is happening is the path to enlightenment.

To live is to be willing to die over and over again.

Compassionate action involves working with ourselves as much as working with others.

When resistance is gone, the demons are gone.

Without loving-kindness for ourselves, it is difficult, if not impossible, to genuinely feel it for others.

Remember that this is not something we do just once or twice. Interrupting our destructive habits and awakening our heart is the work of a lifetime.

Meditation practice isn't about trying to throw ourselves away and become something better. It's about befriending who we are already.

Lean into the sharp points and fully experience them. The essence of bravery is being without self-deception. Wisdom is inherent in (understanding) emotions.

If you're invested in security and certainty, you are on the wrong planet.

The essence of bravery is being without self-deception.

Life is like that. We don't know anything. We call something bad; we call it good. But really we just don't know.

We give it up and just look directly with compassion and humor at who we are. Then loneliness is no threat and heartache, no punishment.

Hell is just resistance to life.

The painful thing is that when we buy into disapproval,we are practicing disapproval. When we buy into harshness,we are practicing harshness.

If you work with your mind, instead of trying to change everything on the outside, that's how your temper will cool down.

I have all the support I need to simply relax and be with the transitional, in-process quality of my life. I have all I need to engage in the process of awakening.

Softening what is rigid in our hearts.

At the root of all the harm we cause is ignorance.

Compassion starts with making friends with ourselves.

The root of compassion, is compassion for oneself.

When we scratch the wound and give into our addictions we do not allow the wound to heal.

As we learn to have compassion for ourselves, the circle of compassion for others - what and whom we can work with, and how - becomes wider.

Every moment is incredibly unique and fresh, and when we drop into the moment, as meditation allows us to do, we learn how to truly taste this tender and mysterious life that we share together.

We hold on to hope, and hope robs us of the present moment.

We don’t sit in meditation to become good meditators. We sit in meditation so that we’ll be more awake in our lives.

Resisting what is happening is a major cause of suffering.

Things falling apart is a kind of testing and also a kind of healing.

I equate ego with trying to figure everything out instead of going with the flow. That closes your heart and your mind to the person or situation that's right in front of you, and you miss so much.

Everything in our lives has the potential to wake us up or put us to sleep. Allowing it to awaken us is up to us.

In order to have compassion for others, we have to have compassion for ourselves.

Things become clear when there is no escape.

We cannot be present and run our story-line at the same time.

The wisdom, the strength, the confidence - the awakened heart and mind are always accessible -- here, now, always.

The Process of becoming unstuck requires tremendous bravery, because basically we are completely changing our way of perceiving reality.

Allow situations in your life to become your teacher.

Compassion for others begins with kindness to ourselves.

We are one blink of an eye away from being fully awake

Our patterns are well established, seductive, and comforting. Just wanting for them to be ventilated isn't enough. Those of us who struggle with this know.

As we practice, we begin to know the difference between our fantasy and reality.

There isn't anything except your own life that can be used as ground for your spiritual practice. Spiritual practice is your life, twenty-four hours a day.

When we feel left out, inadequate, or lonely, can we take a warrior’s perspective and contact bodhichitta?

Gloriousness and wretchedness need each other. One inspires us, the other softens us.