To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest. To live fully is to be always in no-man’s-land, to experience each moment as completely new and fresh. To live is to be willing to die over and over again.
PEMA CHODRONEach person’s life is like a mandala – a vast, limitless circle. We stand in the center of our own circle, and everything we see, hear and think forms the mandala of our life … everything that shows up in your mandala is a vehicle for your awakening.
More Pema Chodron Quotes
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Feeling irritated, restless, afraid, and hopeless is a reminder to listen more carefully.
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When we are willing to stay even a moment with uncomfortable energy, we gradually learn not to fear it.
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Each person’s life is like a mandala – a vast, limitless circle. We stand in the center of our own circle, and everything we see, hear and think forms the mandala of our life … everything that shows up in your mandala is a vehicle for your awakening.
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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.
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In the end, that’s what we all need more than anything else: to be there for each other, in every kind of situation.
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We have a choice. We can spend our whole life suffering because we can’t relax with how things really are, or we can relax and embrace the open-endedness of the human situation, which is fresh, unfixated, unbiased.
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Let difficulty transform you. And it will. In my experience, we just need help in learning how not to run away.
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Use what seems like poison as medicine. Use your personal suffering as the path to compassion for all beings.
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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.
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Let your curiosity be greater than your fear.
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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.
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Openness doesn’t come from resisting our fears but rather from getting to know them well.
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Things falling apart is a kind of testing and also a kind of healing.
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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.
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Every moment is unique, unknown, completely fresh.
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The truth you believe and cling to makes you unavailable to hear anything new.
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As our kindness for ourselves grows, so does our kindness for other people.
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If someone comes along and shoots an arrow into your heart, it’s fruitless to stand there and yell at the person. It would be much better to turn your attention to the fact that there’s an arrow in your heart.
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In meditation, you learn how to get out of your own way long enough for there to be room for your wisdom to manifest.
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Never give up on yourself. Then you will never give up on others.
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Being satisfied with what we already have is a magical golden key to being alive in a full, unrestricted, and inspired way.
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If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher.
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Sticking with that uncertainty, getting the knack of relaxing in the midst of chaos, learning not to panic-this is the spiritual path.
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Feel the feelings and drop the story.
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By the way that we think and by the way that we believe in things, in that way our world is created.
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All the wars, all the hatred, all the ignorance in the world come out of being so invested in our opinions.
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