Pema Chödrön, born in 1936, is a prominent American Tibetan Buddhist nun known for her teachings on mindfulness and compassion. A student of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, she has made Tibetan Buddhism accessible to a wide audience. Through books like “When Things Fall Apart” and “The Places That Scare You,” she imparts wisdom on facing life’s challenges with an open heart. Emphasizing curiosity and fearlessness, Chödrön encourages a transformative approach to difficulties. Her teachings, rooted in traditional Buddhism, advocate for embracing uncertainty and cultivating compassion. Pema Chödrön has played a key role in the development of Shambhala Buddhism in the West, influencing many to integrate meditation and mindfulness into their lives.
Pema Chodron Quotes
1. “Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know.”
— Pema Chödrön
2. “You are the sky. Everything else – it’s just the weather.”
— Pema Chödrön
3. “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 Chödrön
4. “Only to the extent that we expose ourselves over and over to annihilation can that which is indestructible in us be found.”
— Pema Chödrön
5. “Let difficulty transform you. And it will. In my experience, we just need help in learning how not to run away.”
— Pema Chödrön
6. “Feel the feelings and drop the story.”
— Pema Chödrön
7. “Be kinder to yourself. And then let your kindness flood the world.”
— Pema Chödrön
8. “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience, we are spiritual beings having a human experience and Infinite love is the only truth; everything else is an illusion.”
— Pema Chödrön
9. “Difficult people are the greatest teachers.”
— Pema Chödrön
10. “We work on ourselves in order to help others, but also we help others in order to work on ourselves.”
— Pema Chödrön
11. “If you’re invested in security and certainty, you are on the wrong planet.”
— Pema Chödrön
12. “Having compassion starts and ends with having compassion for all those unwanted parts of ourselves. The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy.”
— Pema Chödrön
13. “This very moment is the perfect teacher, and, lucky for us, it’s with us wherever we go.”
— Pema Chödrön
14. “To cultivate equanimity we practice catching ourselves when we feel attraction or aversion, before it hardens into grasping or negativity.”
— Pema Chödrön
15. “Let your curiosity be greater than your fear.”
— Pema Chödrön
16. “The most fundamental aggression to ourselves, the most fundamental harm we can do to ourselves, is to remain ignorant by not having the courage and the respect to look at ourselves honestly and gently.”
— Pema Chödrön
17. “The most complete and true happiness comes in moments when you feel right there, completely present, with no ideas about good and bad, right and wrong – just a sense of open heart and open mind.”
— Pema Chödrön
18. “Since death is certain and the time of death is uncertain, what is the most important thing?”
— Pema Chödrön
19. “We already have everything we need.”
— Pema Chödrön
20. “We think that the point is to pass the test or to overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don’t really get solved. They come together and they fall apart.”
— Pema Chödrön
21. “All you need to know is that the future is wide open and you are about to create it by what you do.”
— Pema Chödrön
22. “The spiritual journey involves going beyond hope and fear, stepping into unknown territory, continually moving forward. The most important aspect of being on the spiritual path may be just to keep moving.”
— Pema Chödrön
23. “Just where you are-that’s the place to start!”
— Pema Chödrön
24. “The ego seeks to divide and separate. Spirit seeks to unify and heal.”
— Pema Chödrön
25. “To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest. To live fully is to be always in no-man’s-land, to experience each moment as completely new and fresh. To live is to be willing to die over and over again.”
— Pema Chödrön
26. “Sticking with that uncertainty, getting the knack of relaxing in the midst of chaos, learning not to panic-this is the spiritual path.”
— Pema Chödrön
27. “The essence of generosity is letting go. Pain is always a sign that we are holding on to something – usually ourselves.”
— Pema Chödrön
28. “Our true nature is like a precious jewel: although it may be temporarily buried in mud, it remains completely brilliant and unaffected. We simply have to uncover it.”
— Pema Chödrön
29. “Impermanence is a principle of harmony. When we don’t struggle against it, we are in harmony with reality.”
— Pema Chödrön
30. “Determination means to use every challenge you meet as an opportunity to open your heart and soften, determined to not withdraw.”
— Pema Chödrön
31. “If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher.”
— Pema Chödrön
32. “Feelings like disappointment, embarrassment, irritation, resentment, anger, jealousy, and fear, instead of being bad news, are actually very clear moments that teach us where it is that we’re holding back.”
— Pema Chödrön
33. “Resistance to unwanted circumstances has the power to keep those circumstances alive and well for a very long time.”
— Pema Chödrön
34. “The idea of karma is that you continually get the teaching that you need to open your heart.”
— Pema Chödrön
35. “Pain is not a punishment; pleasure is not a reward.”
— Pema Chödrön
36. “The future is completely open and we are writing it moment to moment.”
— Pema Chödrön
37. “The Process of becoming unstuck requires tremendous bravery, because basically we are completely changing our way of perceiving reality…”
— Pema Chödrön
38. “This moving away from comfort and security, this stepping out into what is unknown, uncharted and shaky – that’s called liberation.”
— Pema Chödrön
39. “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 Chödrön
40. “Fear is a natural reaction of moving closer to the truth. If we commit ourselves to staying right where we are, then our experience becomes very vivid. Things become very clear when there is nowhere to escape.”
— Pema Chödrön
41. “What if rather than being disheartened by the ambiguity, the uncertainty of life, we accepted it and relaxed into it?”
— Pema Chödrön
42. “The central question of a warrior’s training is not how we avoid uncertainty and fear but how we relate to discomfort.”
— Pema Chödrön
43. “Welcome the present moment as if you had invited it. It is all we ever have, so we night as well work with it rather than struggling against it. We might as well make it our friend and teacher rather than our enemy.”
— Pema Chödrön
44. “If someone comes along and shoots an arrow into your heart, it’s fruitless to stand there and yell at the person. It would be much better to turn your attention to the fact that there’s an arrow in your heart…”
— Pema Chödrön
45. “Each time you stay present with fear and uncertainty, you’re letting go of a habitual way of finding security and comfort.”
— Pema Chödrön
46. “The essence of bravery is being without self-deception.”
— Pema Chödrön
47. “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.”
— Pema Chödrön
48. “I can’t overestimate the importance of accepting ourselves exactly as we are right now, not as we wish we were or think we ought to be.”
— Pema Chödrön
49. “Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity.”
— Pema Chödrön
50. “Usually we think that brave people have no fear. The truth is that they are intimate with fear.”
— Pema Chödrön
51. “We have a choice. We can spend our whole life suffering because we can’t relax with how things really are, or we can relax and embrace the open-endedness of the human situation, which is fresh, unfixated, unbiased.”
— Pema Chödrön
52. “If we’re willing to give up hope that insecurity and pain can be eliminated, then we can have the courage to relax with the groundlessness of our situation. This is the first step on the path.”
— Pema Chödrön
53. “Whatever is happening is the path to enlightenment.”
— Pema Chödrön
54. “The truth you believe and cling to makes you unavailable to hear anything new.”
— Pema Chödrön
55. “The first noble truth of the Buddha is that when we feel suffering, it doesn’t mean that something is wrong. What a relief.”
— Pema Chödrön
56. “To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest.”
— Pema Chödrön
57. “A further sign of health is that we don’t become undone by fear and trembling, but we take it as a message that it’s time to stop struggling and look directly at what’s threatening us.”
— Pema Chödrön
58. “It’s a transformative experience to simply pause instead of immediately filling up space.”
— Pema Chödrön
59. “There comes a time when the bubble of ego is popped and you can’t get the ground back for an extended period of time. Those times, when you absolutely cannot get it back together, are the most rich and powerful times in our lives.”
— Pema Chödrön
60. “If you aren’t feeding the fire of anger or the fire of craving by talking to yourself, then the fire doesn’t have anything to feed on.”
— Pema Chödrön
61. “The root of suffering is resisting the certainty that no matter what the circumstances, uncertainty is all we truly have.”
— Pema Chödrön
62. “We don’t set out to save the world; we set out to wonder how other people are doing and to reflect on how our actions affect other people’s hearts.”
— Pema Chödrön
63. “The most difficult times for many of us are the ones we give ourselves.”
— Pema Chödrön
64. “If it’s painful, you become willing not just to endure it but also to let it awaken your heart and soften you. You learn to embrace it.”
— Pema Chödrön
65. “Don’t get caught up in hopes of what you’ll achieve and how good your situation will be some day in the future. What you do right now is what matters.”
— Pema Chödrön
66. “Don’t worry about achieving. Don’t worry about perfection. Just be there each moment as best you can.”
— Pema Chödrön
67. “The more we witness our emotional reactions and understand how they work, the easier it is to refrain.”
— Pema Chödrön
68. “Lower your standards and relax as it is.”
— Pema Chödrön
69. “Knowing pain is a very important ingredient of being there for another person.”
— Pema Chödrön
70. “Most spiritual experiences begin with suffering. They begin with groundlessness. They begin when the rug has been pulled out from under us.”
— Pema Chödrön
71. “By not knowing, not hoping to know and not acting like we know what’s happening, we begin to access our inner strength.”
— Pema Chödrön
72. “The future is the result of what we do right now.”
— Pema Chödrön
73. “You build inner strength through embracing the totality of your experience, both the delightful parts and the difficult parts.”
— Pema Chödrön
74. “All ego really is, is our opinions, which we take to be solid, real, and the absolute truth about how things are.”
— Pema Chödrön
75. “Rejoicing 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.”
— Pema Chödrön
76. “Like all explorers, we are drawn to discover what’s out there without knowing yet if we have the courage to face it.”
— Pema Chödrön
77. “Without giving up hope – that there’s somewhere better to be, that there’s someone better to be – we will never relax with where we are or who we are.”
— Pema Chödrön
78. “Fear is a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth.”
— Pema Chödrön
79. “So war and peace start in the human heart. Whether that heart is open or whether that heart closes has global implications.”
— Pema Chödrön
80. “When we resist change, it’s called suffering. But when we can completely let go and not struggle against it, when we can embrace the groundlessness of our situation and relax into it’s dynamic quality, that’s called enlightenment.”
— Pema Chödrön
81. “Never give up on yourself. Then you will never give up on others.”
— Pema Chödrön
82. “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.”
— Pema Chödrön
83. “Our neurosis and our wisdom are made out of the same material. If you throw out your neurosis, you also throw out your wisdom.”
— Pema Chödrön
84. “The trick is to keep exploring and not bail out, even when we find out that something is not what we thought.”
— Pema Chödrön
85. “Feeling irritated, restless, afraid, and hopeless is a reminder to listen more carefully.”
— Pema Chödrön
86. “Remember that this is not something we do just once or twice. Interrupting our destructive habits and awakening our heart is the work of a lifetime.”
— Pema Chödrön
87. “Allow situations in your life to become your teacher.”
— Pema Chödrön
88. “The teacher will never give up on the student no matter how mixed up he or she might be.”
— Pema Chödrön
89. “The best spiritual instruction is when you wake up in the morning and say, ‘I wonder what’s going to happen today.’ And then carry that kind of curiosity through your life.”
— Pema Chödrön
90. “Meditation takes us just as we are, with our confusion and our sanity. This complete acceptance of ourselves as we are is called maitri, or unconditional friendliness, a simple, direct relationship with the way we are.”
— Pema Chödrön
91. “Openness doesn’t come from resisting our fears but rather from getting to know them well.”
— Pema Chödrön
92. “Never underestimate the desire to bolt.”
— Pema Chödrön
93. “When we scratch the wound and give into our addictions we do not allow the wound to heal.”
— Pema Chödrön
94. “We sow the seeds of our future hells or happiness by the way we open or close our minds right now.”
— Pema Chödrön
95. “You must learn to sit with the restless, painful energy and not let the momentum pull you under and cause you to do the same thing over and over that’s ruining your life and the lives of those around you.”
— Pema Chödrön
96. “The biggest obstacle to taking a bigger perspective on life is that our emotions capture and blind us.”
— Pema Chödrön
97. “In practicing meditation, we’re not trying to live up to some kind of ideal – quite the opposite. We’re just being with our experience, whatever it is.”
— Pema Chödrön
98. “If we Pause and breathe in and out, then we can have the experience of timeless presence, of the inexpressible wisdom and goodness of our own minds. We can look at the world with fresh eyes and hear things with fresh ears.”
— Pema Chödrön
99. “This genuine heart of sadness can teach us great compassion. It can humble us when we’re arrogant and soften us when we are unkind.”
— Pema Chödrön
100. “When we are willing to stay even a moment with uncomfortable energy, we gradually learn not to fear it.”
— Pema Chödrön
101. “We don’t sit in meditation to become good meditators. We sit in meditation so that we’ll be more awake in our lives.”
— Pema Chödrön
102. “One way to practice staying present is to simply sit still for a while and listen. For one minute, listen to the sounds close to you. For one minute, listen to the sounds at a distance. Just listen attentively.”
— Pema Chödrön
103. “Share the wealth. Be generous with your joy. Give away what you most want. Be generous with your insights and delights.”
— Pema Chödrön
104. “Being fully present isn’t something that happens once and then you have achieved it; it’s being awake to the ebb and flow and movement and creation of life, being alive to the process of life itself.”
— Pema Chödrön
105. “Trying to run away is never the answer to being a fully human. Running away from the immediacy of our experience is like preferring death to life.”
— Pema Chödrön
106. “Although we have the potential to experience the freedom of a butterfly, we mysteriously prefer the small and fearful cocoon of ego.”
— Pema Chödrön
107. “At some point, we realize that what we do for ourselves benefits others, and what we do for others benefits us.”
— Pema Chödrön
108. “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 Chödrön
109. “That nothing is static or fixed, that all is fleeting and impermanent, is the first mark of existence. Everything is in process.”
— Pema Chödrön
110. “Meditation practice isn’t about trying to throw ourselves away and become something better. It’s about befriending who we are already.”
— Pema Chödrön
111. “The third noble truth says that the cessation of suffering is letting go of holding on to ourselves.”
— Pema Chödrön
112. “All the terrible things we do to ourselves and others from alcoholism to character assignation to abuse to murder come from one cause: the inability to stay present with an uncomfortable feeling in the body and seek short-term relief.”
— Pema Chödrön
113. “To put it concisely, we suffer when we resist the noble and irrefutable truth of impermanence and death.”
— Pema Chödrön
114. “When you have made good friends with yourself, your situation will be more friendly too.”
— Pema Chödrön
115. “We don’t experience the world fully unless we are willing to give everything away. Samaya means not holding anything back, not preparing our escape route, not looking for alternatives, not thinking that there is ample time to do things later.”
— Pema Chödrön
116. “Things become clear when there is no escape.”
— Pema Chödrön
117. “When resistance is gone, the demons are gone.”
— Pema Chödrön
118. “In meditation and in our daily lives there are three qualities that we can nurture, cultivate, and bring out. We already possess these, but they can be ripened: precision, gentleness, and the ability to let go.”
— Pema Chödrön
119. “Deep down in the human spirit, there is a reservoir of courage. It is always available, always waiting to be discovered.”
— Pema Chödrön
120. “Clarity and decisiveness come from the willingness to slow down, to listen to and look at what’s happening.”
— Pema Chödrön
121. “Use what seems like poison as medicine. Use your personal suffering as the path to compassion for all beings.”
— Pema Chödrön
122. “Constantly apply cheerfulness, if for no other reason than because you are on this spiritual path. Have a sense of gratitude to everything, even difficult emotions, because of their potential to wake you up.”
— Pema Chödrön
123. “The wisdom, the strength, the confidence – the awakened heart and mind are always accessible – here, now, always.”
— Pema Chödrön
124. “The approach is that the best way to use unwanted circumstances on the path of enlightenment is not to resist but to lean into them.”
— Pema Chödrön
125. “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.”
— Pema Chödrön
126. “People get into a heavy-duty sin and guilt trip, feeling that if things are going wrong, that means that they did something bad and they are being punished. That’s not the idea at all.”
— Pema Chödrön
127. “We can drop the fundamental hope that there is a better “me” who one day will emerge. We can’t just jump over ourselves as if we were not there.”
— Pema Chödrön
128. “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 great adventure.”
— Pema Chödrön
129. “All situations teach you, and often it’s the tough ones that teach you best.”
— Pema Chödrön
130. “Peace isn’t an experience free of challenges, free of rough and smooth, it’s an experience that’s expansive enough to include all that arises without feeling threatened.”
— Pema Chödrön
131. “It is a commitment to respect whatever life brings that we develop wholehearted determination to use discomfort as an opportunity for awakening, rather than trying to make it disappear.”
— Pema Chödrön
132. “Every moment is unique, unknown, completely fresh.”
— Pema Chödrön
133. “Enlightenment is a direct experience with reality.”
— Pema Chödrön
134. “We are one blink of an eye away from being fully awake.”
— Pema Chödrön
135. “Welcome the present moment as if you had invited it. Why? Because it is all we ever have.”
— Pema Chödrön
136. “Without loving-kindness for ourselves, it is difficult, if not impossible, to genuinely feel it for others.”
— Pema Chödrön
137. “It isn’t what happens to us that causes us to suffer; it’s what we say to ourselves about what happens.”
— Pema Chödrön
138. “When you begin to touch your heart or let your heart be touched, you begin to discover that it’s bottomless, that it doesn’t have any resolution, that this heart is huge, vast, and limitless. You begin to discover how much warmth and gentleness is there, as well as how much space.”
— Pema Chödrön
139. “Unconditional good heart toward others is not even a possibility unless we attend to our own demons.”
— Pema Chödrön
140. “Treat yourself as your own beloved child.”
— Pema Chödrön
141. “When we protect ourselves so we won’t feel pain, that protection becomes like armor, like armor that imprisons the softness of of the heart.”
— Pema Chödrön
142. “Everybody loves something, even if it’s only tortillas.”
— Pema Chödrön
143. “At the root of all the harm we cause is ignorance.”
— Pema Chödrön
144. “One of the deepest habitual patterns that we have is to feel that now is not enough.”
— Pema Chödrön
145. “The root of compassion, is compassion for oneself.”
— Pema Chödrön
146. “Compassion practice is daring. It involves learning to relax and allowing ourselves to move gently toward what scares us.”
— Pema Chödrön
147. “Hell is just resistance to life.”
— Pema Chödrön
148. “Honesty without kindness, humor, and goodheartedness can be just mean. From the very beginning to the very end, pointing to our own hearts to discover what is true isn’t just a matter of honesty but also of compassion and respect for what we see.”
— Pema Chödrön
149. “The very first noble truth of the Buddha points out that suffering is inevitable for human beings as long as we believe that things last – that they don’t disintegrate, that they can be counted on to satisfy our hunger for security.”
— Pema Chödrön
150. “A warrior accepts that we can never know what will happen to us next.”
— Pema Chödrön
151. “To live is to be willing to die over and over again.”
— Pema Chödrön
152. “In a nutshell, when life is pleasant, think of others. When life is a burden, think of others.”
— Pema Chödrön
153. “It’s not a terrible thing that we feel fear when faced with the unknown. It is part of being alive, something we all share.”
— Pema Chödrön
154. “By becoming intimate with how we close down and how we open up, we awaken our unlimited potential.”
— Pema Chödrön
155. “The real thing that we renounce is the tenacious hope that we could be saved from being who we are.”
— Pema Chödrön
156. “The essence of practice is always the same: instead of falling prey to a chain reaction of revenge or self-hatred, we gradually learn to catch the emotional reaction and drop the story lines.”
— Pema Chödrön
157. “Being preoccupied with our self-image is like being deaf and blind. It’s like standing in the middle of a vast field of wildflowers with a black hood over our heads. It’s like coming upon a tree of singing birds while wearing earplugs.”
— Pema Chödrön
158. “Surrendering, letting go of possessiveness, and complete nonattachment-all are synonyms for accumulating merit.”
— Pema Chödrön
159. “Honesty without kindness, humor, and goodheartedness can be just mean.”
— Pema Chödrön
160. “Suffering begins to dissolve when we can question the belief or the hope that there’s anywhere to hide.”
— Pema Chödrön
161. “True compassion does not come from wanting to help out those less fortunate than ourselves but from realizing our kinship with all beings.”
— Pema Chödrön
162. “Let the hard things in life break you. Let them effect you. Let them change you. Let these hard moments inform you. Let this pain be your teacher. The experiences of your life are trying to tell you something about yourself. Don’t cop out on that. Don’t run away and hide under your covers. Lean into it.”
— Pema Chödrön
163. “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 Chödrön
164. “The point is that our true nature is not some ideal that we have to live up to. It’s who we are right now, and that’s what we can make friends with and celebrate.”
— Pema Chödrön
165. “In meditation, you learn how to get out of your own way long enough for there to be room for your wisdom to manifest.”
— Pema Chödrön
166. “Feel the wounded heart that’s underneath the addiction, self-loathing, or anger.”
— Pema Chödrön
167. “Whatever you are doing, take the attitude of wanting it directly or indirectly to benefit others. Take the attitude of wanting it to increase your experience of kinship with your fellow beings.”
— Pema Chödrön
168. “Patience is not learned in safety.”
— Pema Chödrön
169. “There’s nothing more important on our spiritual path than developing gentleness to oneself.”
— Pema Chödrön
170. “There isn’t anything except your own life that can be used as ground for your spiritual practice. Spiritual practice is your life, twenty-four hours a day.”
— Pema Chödrön
171. “Don’t worry about achieving. Don’t worry about perfection. Just be there each moment as best you can. When you realize you’ve wandered off again, simply very lightly acknowledge that. This light touch is the golden key to reuniting with our openness.”
— Pema Chödrön
172. “Now is the only time. How we relate to it creates the future.”
— Pema Chödrön
173. “But all the time our warmth and brilliance are right here. This is who we really are. We are one blink of an eye away from being fully awake.”
— Pema Chödrön
174. “We can stop thinking that good practice is when it’s smooth and calm, and bad practice is when it’s rough and dark. If we can hold it all in our hearts, then we can make a proper cup of tea.”
— Pema Chödrön
175. “Simply be present with your own shifting energies and with the unpredictabilit y of life as it unfolds.”
— Pema Chödrön
176. “Even if you don’t feel appreciation, just look. Feel what you feel; take an interest and be curious.”
— Pema Chödrön
177. “What you do for yourself, you’re doing for others, and what you do for others, you’re doing for yourself.”
— Pema Chödrön
178. “When you begin to touch your heart or let your heart be touched, you begin to discover that it’s bottomless.”
— Pema Chödrön
179. “When things are shaky and nothing is working, we might realize that we are on the verge of something.”
— Pema Chödrön
180. “We cannot be present and run our story-line at the same time.”
— Pema Chödrön
181. “Do I prefer to grow up and relate to life directly, or do I choose to live and die in fear?”
— Pema Chödrön
182. “When we feel left out, inadequate, or lonely, can we take a warrior’s perspective and contact bodhichitta?”
— Pema Chödrön
183. “Ego is like a room of your own, a room with a view with the temperature and the smells and the music that you like. You want it your own way. You’d just like to have a little peace, you’d like to have a little happiness, you know, just gimme a break.”
— Pema Chödrön
184. “As long as our orientation is toward perfection or success, we will never learn about unconditional friendship with ourselves, nor will we find compassion.”
— Pema Chödrön
185. “There is no cultivation of patience when your pattern is to just try to seek harmony and smooth everything out. Patience implies willingness to be alive rather than trying to seek harmony.”
— Pema Chödrön
186. “Generosity is an activity that loosens us up. By offering whatever we can – a dollar, a flower, a word of encouragement – we are training in letting go.”
— Pema Chödrön
187. “The still lake without ripples is an image of our minds at ease, so full of unlimited friendliness for all the junk at the bottom of the lake that we don’t feel the need to churn up the waters just to avoid looking at what’s there.”
— Pema Chödrön
188. “Life is like that. We don’t know anything. We call something bad; we call it good. But really we just don’t know.”
— Pema Chödrön
189. “Life’s work is to wake up, to let the things that enter your life wake you up rather than put you to sleep.”
— Pema Chödrön
190. “Right down there in the thick of things, we discover the love that will not die.”
— Pema Chödrön
191. “Once you create a self-justifying storyline, your emotional entrapment within it quadruples.”
— Pema Chödrön
192. “Somehow, in the process of trying to deny that things are always changing, we lose our sense of the sacredness of life. We tend to forget that we are part of the natural scheme of things.”
— Pema Chödrön
193. “Until we stop clinging to the concept of good and evil, the world will continue to manifest as friendly goddesses and harmful demons.”
— Pema Chödrön
194. “Things falling apart is a kind of testing and also a kind of healing.”
— Pema Chödrön
195. “The only way to ease our pain is to experience it fully. Learn to stay with uneasiness, learn to stay with the tightening, so that the habitual chain reaction doesn’t continue to rule your life.”
— Pema Chödrön
196. “We spend all our energy and waste our lives trying to re-create these zones of safety, which are always falling apart. That’s the essence of samsara – the cycle of suffering that comes from continuing to seek happiness in all the wrong places.”
— Pema Chödrön
197. “In order to have compassion for others, we have to have compassion for ourselves.”
— Pema Chödrön
198. “We are all capable of becoming fundamentalists because we get addicted to other people’s wrongness.”
— Pema Chödrön
199. “Patience has nothing to do with suppression. In fact, it has everything to do with a gentle, honest relationship with yourself.”
— Pema Chödrön
200. “Everything in our lives has the potential to wake us up or put us to sleep. Allowing it to awaken us is up to us.”
— Pema Chödrön
