If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher.
PEMA CHODRONRejoicing 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.
More Pema Chodron Quotes
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Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know.
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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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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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Resisting what is happening is a major cause of suffering.
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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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Treat yourself as your own beloved child.
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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.
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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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There’s nothing more important on our spiritual path than developing gentleness to oneself.
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Obstacles are our friends: they teach us where we’re stuck.
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We work on ourselves in order to help others, but also we help others in order to work on ourselves.
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It isn’t the things that are happening to us that cause us to suffer, it’s what we say to ourselves about the things that are happening. The truth you believe and cling to makes you unavailable to hear anything new.
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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.
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You build inner strength through embracing the totality of your experience, both the delightful parts and the difficult parts.
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Deep down in the human spirit, there is a reservoir of courage. It is always available, always waiting to be discovered.
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