Pema Chodron Quotes

The painful thing is that when we buy into disapproval, we are practicing disapproval. When we buy into harshness, we are practicing harshness. The more we do it, the stronger these qualities become. How sad it is that we become so expert at causing harm to ourselves and others. The trick then is to practice gentleness and letting go. We can learn to meet whatever arises with curiosity and not make it such a big deal.

Fear is natural. Be with it.

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.

If we begin to get in touch with whatever we feel with some kind of kindness, our protective shells will melt, and we'll find that more areas of our lives are workable. 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.

Rest and be kind, you don't have to prove anything

I say yes to the hot bath and the sandwich - to getting ourselves into the best possible mental shape to identify and then fight the necessary fights from the best possible mind-state: calm, loving, affectionate, precise. Not pushovers but also not zealots. With the idea in mind that "our enemies" are not our enemies; they might seem like that in their present form but that form can morph. We really are large, and really do contain multitudes. But I think it all has to start with a kindly presence of mind, and the aspiration to affection for others.

I would ask everyone to remember, in any situation we are experiencing, that we can come from a place of fear or love. I would say, however uncomfortable it may be sometimes to get to that root, to please take that extra time and courage to come from a place of love.

Keep your heart open for as long as you can, as wide as you can, for others and especially for yourself.

Mindfulness needs to not be judgmental to really be mindfulness, which means it needs a basis of loving kindness.

Shall I tell you what you have that other men don't?.... It's the courage of your own tenderness.

If you can learn to love yourself and all the flaws, you can love other people so much better. And that makes you so happy.

I have learned to take the part of me that is very fearful and work on that. There is space for that in my life. I have learned to give myself a bit more freedom between 'action' and 'cut.' I come by all that fear honestly, like most humans have. I can't bring it with me to work, so in that way, the work feels quite liberating.

It is a glorious thing to be indifferent to suffering, but only to one's own suffering.

Buddhist practices offer a way of saying, 'Hey, come back over here, reconnect.' The only way that you'll actually wake up and have some freedom is if you have the capacity and courage to stay with the vulnerability and the discomfort.

I've spent quite a bit of my life as a meditation teacher and writer commending the strengths of love and compassion.

I feel like I'm calmer, I'm kinder, I'm more patient the more I do my own meditation.

We need the compassion and the courage to change the conditions that support our suffering. Those conditions are things like ignorance, bitterness, negligence, clinging, and holding on.

Stay in your heart.

Everyone loses touch with their aspiration, and we need the heart to return to what we really care about. All of this is based on developing greater lovingkindness and compassion.

For me it's important to be in balance. To not let fear get in the way of things, to not worry so much about protecting yourself all the time.

Tears shed for self are tears of weakness, but tears shed for others are a sign of strength.

I have gotten better at saying to myself, 'Relax and just take this moment in. Appreciate it for what it is.'

We can be kind to others and kind to ourselves - and what anyone else decides to do is up to them. We can just be responsible to ourselves.

Embrace your vulnerability and celebrate your flaws; it will let you appreciate the world around you and make you more compassionate.

You need not search for the compassionate mind from outside. To know yourself, to know your nature, your mind will automatically be the compassionate one.