Pema Chodron Quotes

Pema Chodron Quotes.

If right now our emotional reaction to seeing a certain

If right now our emotional reaction to seeing a certain person or hearing certain news is to fly into a rage or to get despondent or something equally extreme, it’s because we have been cultivating that particular habit for a very long time.
Pema Chodron
Difficult things provoke all your irritations and bring your habitual patterns to the surface. And that becomes the moment of truth. You have the choice to launch into your lousy habitual patterns, or to stay with the rawness and discomfort of the situation and let it transform you.
Pema Chodron
As Buddhism moved from one culture to another, it always adapted.
Pema Chodron
Let your curiosity be greater than your fear.
Pema Chodron
The Buddha taught that we’re not actually in control, which is a pretty scary idea. But when you let things be as they are, you will be a much happier, more balanced, compassionate person.
Pema Chodron
You are the sky. Everything else – it’s just the weather.
Pema Chodron
Sometimes people’s spiritual ideas become fixed and they use them against those who don’t share their beliefs – in effect, becoming fundamentalist. It’s very dangerous – the finger of righteous indignation pointing at someone who is identified as bad or wrong.
Pema Chodron
Not causing harm requires staying awake. Part of being awake is slowing down enough to notice what we say and do. The more we witness our emotional chain reactions and understand how they work, the easier it is to refrain. It becomes a way of life to stay awake, slow down, and notice.
Pema Chodron
Deep down in the human spirit, there is a reservoir of courage. It is always available, always waiting to be discovered.
Pema Chodron
I equate ego with trying to figure everything out instead of going with the flow. That closes your heart and your mind to the person or situation that’s right in front of you, and you miss so much.
Pema Chodron
As Buddhism moved to the West, one of the big characteristics was the strong place of women. That didn’t exist in the countries of origin. It’s just a sign of our culture.
Pema Chodron
Feel the feelings and drop the story.
Pema Chodron
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.
Pema Chodron
This moving away from comfort and security, this stepping out into what is unknown, uncharted and shaky – that’s called liberation.
Pema Chodron
Most spiritual experiences begin with suffering. They begin with groundlessness. They begin when the rug has been pulled out from under us.
Pema Chodron
Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It’s a relationship between equals. Only when we know our own darkness well can we be present with the darkness of others. Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity.
Pema Chodron
Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know.
Pema Chodron