It isn’t what happens to us that causes us to suffer; it’s what we say to ourselves about what happens.
PEMA CHODRONNever give up on yourself. Then you will never give up on others.
More Pema Chodron Quotes
-
-
Use what seems like poison as medicine. Use your personal suffering as the path to compassion for all beings.
PEMA CHODRON -
When we resist change, it’s called suffering. But when we can completely let go and not struggle against it, when we can embrace the groundlessness of our situation and relax into it’s dynamic quality, that’s called enlightenment.
PEMA CHODRON -
The truth you believe and cling to makes you unavailable to hear anything new.
PEMA CHODRON -
The central question of a warrior’s training is not how we avoid uncertainty and fear but how we relate to discomfort.
PEMA CHODRON -
All you need to know is that the future is wide open and you are about to create it by what you do.
PEMA CHODRON -
So many of us start along the spiritual path because we are suffering. But you must realize that for real healing to occur, there must first be deep compassion for yourself, especially the parts of yourself you dislike or consider ugly.
PEMA CHODRON -
Don’t worry about achieving. Don’t worry about perfection. Just be there each moment as best you can.
PEMA CHODRON -
Since death is certain and the time of death is uncertain, what is the most important thing?
PEMA CHODRON -
Things falling apart is a kind of testing and also a kind of healing.
PEMA CHODRON -
By the way that we think and by the way that we believe in things, in that way our world is created.
PEMA CHODRON -
Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know.
PEMA CHODRON -
The future is completely open and we are writing it moment to moment.
PEMA CHODRON -
One of the deepest habitual patterns that we have is to feel that now is not enough.
PEMA CHODRON -
The greatest obstacle to connecting with our joy is resentment.
PEMA CHODRON -
Appreciate everything, even the ordinary. Especially the ordinary.
PEMA CHODRON -
Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know. Even if we run a hundred miles an hour to the other side of the continent, we find the very same problem awaiting us when we arrive.
PEMA CHODRON -
All situations teach you, and often it’s the tough ones that teach you best.
PEMA CHODRON -
Be kinder to yourself. And then let your kindness flood the world.
PEMA CHODRON -
We can let the circumstances of our lives harden us so that we become increasingly resentful and afraid, or we can let them soften us and make us kinder and more open to what scares us. We always have this choice.
PEMA CHODRON -
Sticking with that uncertainty, getting the knack of relaxing in the midst of chaos, learning not to panic-this is the spiritual path.
PEMA CHODRON -
When things fall apart in your life, you feel as if your whole world is crumbling. But actually it’s your fixed identity that’s crumbling. And as Chögyam Trungpa used to tell us, that’s cause for celebration.
PEMA CHODRON -
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.
PEMA CHODRON -
Anything we experience, no matter how challenging, can become an open pathway to awakening.
PEMA CHODRON -
The essence of generosity is letting go. Pain is always a sign that we are holding on to something – usually ourselves.
PEMA CHODRON -
Inner peace begins the moment you choose not to allow another person or event to control your emotions.
PEMA CHODRON -
So war and peace start in the human heart. Whether that heart is open or whether that heart closes has global implications.
PEMA CHODRON