Simply be present with your own shifting energies and with the unpredictabilit y of life as it unfolds. — Pema Chodron Copy Share Image
We work on ourselves in order to help others, but also we help others in order to work on ourselves. — Pema Chodron Copy Share Image
There's nothing more important on our spiritual path than developing gentleness to oneself. — Pema Chodron Copy Share Image
The most important aspect of being on a spiritual path may be to just keep moving. — Pema Chodron Copy Share Image
The spiritual journey involves going beyond hope and fear, stepping into unknown territory, continually moving forward. The most important aspect of being… — Pema Chodron Copy Share Image
Sticking with that uncertainty, getting the knack of relaxing in the midst of chaos, learning not to panic-this is the spiritual path. — Pema Chodron Copy Share Image
Constantly apply cheerfulness, if for no other reason than because you are on this spiritual path. Have a sense of gratitude to… — Pema Chodron Copy Share Image
Most spiritual experiences begin with suffering. They begin with groundlessness. They begin when the rug has been pulled out from under us. — Pema Chodron Copy Share Image
We are not human beings having a spiritual experience, we are spiritual beings having a human experience and Infinite love is the… — Pema Chodron Copy Share Image
There isn't anything except your own life that can be used as ground for your spiritual practice. Spiritual practice is your life,… — Pema Chodron Copy Share Image
It isn't the things that happen to us in our lives that cause us to suffer, it's how we relate to the… — Pema Chodron Copy Share Image
When there's a disappointment, I don't know if it's the end of the story. It may just be the beginning of a… — Pema Chodron Copy Share Image
Anxiety, heartbreak, and tenderness mark the in-between state. It's the kind of place we usually want to avoid. The challenge is to… — Pema Chodron Copy Share Image
Meditation is not a matter of trying to achieve ecstasy, spiritual bliss, or tranquillity, nor is it attempting to become a better… — Pema Chodron Copy Share Image
When we start out on a spiritual path we often have ideals we think we're supposed to live up to. We feel… — Pema Chodron Copy Share Image
Many people hope a spiritual practice will let them avoid what they are ashamed of. But when you hide something from yourself,… — Pema Chodron Copy Share Image
Sometimes people's spiritual ideas become fixed and they use them against those who don't share their beliefs - in effect, becoming fundamentalist.… — Pema Chodron Copy Share Image
Sticking with uncertainty is how we learn to relax in the midst of chaos, how we learn to be cool when the… — Pema Chodron Copy Share Image
My experience with forgiveness is that it sort of comes spontaneously at a certain point and to try to force it it's not really forgiveness. It's Buddhist philosophy or something spiritual jargon that you're trying to live up to but you're just using it against yourself as a reason why you're not okay. — Pema Chodron Copy Share
Ego could be defined as whatever covers up basic goodness. From an experiential point of view, what is ego covering up? It's… — Pema Chodron Copy Share Image
As long as we're caught up in always looking for certainty and happiness, rather than honoring the taste and smell and quality… — Pema Chodron Copy Share Image
So many of us start along the spiritual path because we are suffering. But you must realize that for real healing to… — Pema Chodron Copy Share Image
It's also helpful to realize that this very body that we have, that's sitting right here right now... with its aches and… — Pema Chodron Copy Share Image
The best spiritual instruction is when you wake up in the morning and say, 'I wonder what's going to happen today.' And… — Pema Chodron Copy Share Image
To stay with that shakiness-to stay with a broken heart, with a rumbling stomach, with the feeling of hopelessness and wanting to… — Pema Chodron Copy Share Image
We can stop struggling with what occurs and see its true face without calling it the enemy. It helps to remember that… — Pema Chodron Copy Share Image
Learning how to be kind to ourselves, learning how to respect ourselves, is important. The reason it's important is that, fundamentally, when… — Pema Chodron Copy Share Image
“LIFE’S work is to wake up, to let the things that enter into your life wake you up rather than put you to sleep.… — Pema Chödrön Copy Share Image
Since death is certain and the time of death is uncertain, what is the most important thing? — Pema Chodron Copy Share Image
Buddhist words such as compassion and emptiness don't mean much until we start cultivating our innate ability simply to be there with pain with an open heart and the willingness not to instantly try to get ground under our feet. For instance, if what we're feeling is rage, we usually assume that there are only two ways to relate to… — Pema Chodron Copy Share
The essence of generosity is letting go. Pain is always a sign that we are holding on to something - usually ourselves. — Pema Chodron Copy Share Image
“If the object of meditation were something concrete, something solid and graspable - an image or a statue or a dot on the floor or a candle - it would be much more of a concentration exercise. But the breath is very elusive; even if you wanted to give it one hundred percent attention, it would be difficult because it… — Pema Chödrön Copy Share
It's a transformative experience to simply pause instead of immediately fill up the space. By waiting, we begin to connect with fundamental restlessness as… — Pema Chodron Copy Share Image
“The essence of life is that it’s challenging. Sometimes it is sweet, and sometimes it is bitter. Sometimes your body tenses, and sometimes it relaxes or opens. Sometimes you have a headache, and sometimes you feel 100 percent healthy. From an awakened perspective, trying to tie up all the loose ends and finally get it together is death, because it… — Pema Chödrön Copy Share
If we run a hundred miles an hour to the other end of the continent in order to get away from the obstacle, we… — Pema Chodron Copy Share Image
“But in this meditation technique, we are with the out-breath; there's no particular instruction about what to do until the next out-breath.” — Pema Chödrön Copy Share Image
“Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know. Nothing ever really attacks us except our own confusion. Perhaps there is no solid obstacle except our own need to protect ourselves from being touched. If we run a hundred miles an hour to the other end of the continent in order to get away from… — Pema Chödrön Copy Share
So even if the hot loneliness is there, and for 1.6 seconds we sit with that restlessness when yesterday we couldn't sit for even… — Pema Chodron Copy Share Image
If you have rage and righteously act it out and blame it all on others, it's really you who suffers. The other people and… — Pema Chodron Copy Share Image
