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If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher.

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

Celebration Fall Identity Life World Yourself
If you follow your heart, you’re going to find that it is often extremely inconvenient.
PEMA CHODRON

Heart Inspirational Yourself
The essence of generosity is letting go. Pain is always a sign that we are holding on to something – usually ourselves.
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Essence Generosity Ourselves Pain Sign
Openness doesn’t come from resisting our fears but rather from getting to know them well.
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Fear Open Ourselves Resistance
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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Believe Creation Ourselves Thinking Way 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.
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Brilliant Bury Jewel Nature Simplicity Temporary True
Things falling apart is a kind of testing and also a kind of healing.
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Fall Hard Time Healing Kind Perspective
You build inner strength through embracing the totality of your experience, both the delightful parts and the difficult parts.
PEMA CHODRON

Build Delight Difficult Experience Strength Yourself
Resisting what is happening is a major cause of suffering.
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Pain Resistance Suffering
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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End Kind Situation Support Togetherness
Since death is certain and the time of death is uncertain, what is the most important thing?
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Certain Death Important Philosophy Time
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

Change Dynamic Enlightenment Ourselves Resistance Situation Struggle Suffering
The future is completely open and we are writing it moment to moment.
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Future Moments Open Writing
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.
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Choice Circumstance Hard Kind Life Open Scare
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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Complaint Emotional Fortune Goodness Inspirational Ordinary Rejoice World
It isn’t what happens to us that causes us to suffer; it’s what we say to ourselves about what happens.
PEMA CHODRON

Hard Time Ourselves Reaction Suffering

If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher.

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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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