Pema Chodron Quotes

Being able to step outside of yourself in order to help someone else is why we're all here, it's what we should all be doing if we can.

And so my hope for you, good boy, as you grow taller every day, is that you will learn to take good care of yourself, and you will learn to take good care of others-and, someday, you'll see how those two things are exactly the same.

If I want to be a better person for whoever is in my life, I have to learn.

In my mind, as long as I did what was right for me, I was cool. But that's not the way it works. You have to think about other people and take their feelings into account.

It is only in helping someone else to awake that I awake.

You will begin to succeed with your life when the pains and problems of others matter to you.

I'm sensitive to how people are feeling if they feel like they got it wrong, and sensitive to the people who are kind of gloating that they knew all along, they figured it out. I'm loving them through this process, because I know that it took me a while once I found out that it was me.

The first beneficiary of compassion is always oneself. When compassion, or warmheartedness, arises in us and our focus shifts away from our own narrow self-interest, it is as if we open an inner door. It reduces fear, boosts confidence and brings us inner strength. By reducing distrust, it opens us to others and brings us a sense of connection to others, and sense of purpose and meaning in life.

Compassion is the ultimate expression of your highest self

Self-improvement comes mainly from trying to help others.

The man who cannot live with charity, sharing other men's pain, is punished by feeling his own with intolerable anguish.

Loving-kindness and compassion are the basis for wise, powerful, sometimes gentle, and sometimes fierce actions that can really make a difference - in our own lives and those of others.

Be kind to all and severe to thyself.

I take the greatest lesson from compassion - it takes away all the conceit out of my life.

Through your love for each other, through learning the art of making one person happy, you learn to express your love for the whole of humanity and all beings. Please help us develop the curriculum for the Institute for the Happiness of One Person. Don't wait until we open the school. You can begin practicing right away.

If we can cultivate a concern for others, keeping in mind the oneness of humanity, we can build a more compassionate world.

The cultivation of compassion is no longer a luxury, but a necessity, if our species is to survive.

What you do for yourself, any gesture of kindness, any gesture of gentleness, any gesture of honesty and clear seeing toward yourself, will affect how you experience your world. In fact, it will transform how you experience the world. What you do for yourself, you’re doing for others, and what you do for others, you’re doing for yourself.

If you become more concerned for the welfare of others, you will experience a sense of calm, inner-strength, and self confidence.

Here is a vocation that will bring you more satisfaction than if you became a millionaire ten times over: Develop the extraordinary skill for detecting the burdens of others and devote yourself daily to making them lighter.

I am working on a technical paper on compassion. So I am reading everything I can on the subject, including my own mind and heart.

Be kind to others, so that you may learn the secret art of being kind to yourself.

You should think about the world and feel about your heart.

He who doesn't consider himself is seldom considerate of others.

The idea of service leads to community.