PinGloriousness and wretchedness need each other. One inspires us, the other softens us. They go together.PinYou are the sky. Everything else – it’s just the weather.PinIf we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher.PinWe 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.PinTo be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest.PinTo live fully is to be always in no-man’s land, to experience each moment as completely new and fresh.PinThis very moment is the perfect teacher, and, lucky for us, it’s with us wherever we are.PinLife is like that. We don’t know anything. We call something bad; we call it good. But really we just don’t know.PinThe healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy.PinWe 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.
20 Inspirational Pema Chödrön Quotes on Fear and Uncertainties (SUFFERING)
“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
PinFear is a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth.PinWe cannot be in the present moment and run our story lines at the same time!PinWhen there’s a big disappointment, we don’t know if that’s the end of the story. It may just be the beginning of a great adventure.PinThe most difficult times for many of us are the ones we give ourselves.PinRather than letting our negativity get the better of us, we could acknowledge that right now we feel like a piece of shit and not squeamish about taking a good look.PinLife is glorious, but life is also wretched. It is both.PinA 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.PinKnowing pain is a very important ingredient of being there for another person.PinWhen you are feeling a lot of grief, you can look right into somebody’s eyes because you feel you haven’t got anything to lose — you’re just there.PinOnly to the extent that we expose ourselves over and over to annihilation can that which is indestructible in us be found.PinThe way to dissolve our resistance to life is to meet it face to face.PinWe habitually erect a barrier called blame that keeps us from communicating genuinely with others, and we fortify it with our concepts of who’s right and who’s wrong. PinMost of us do not take these situations as teachings. We automatically hate them. We run like crazy.PinIt was all about letting go of everything.PinWithout 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.PinHope and fear come from feeling that we lack something: they come from a sense of poverty. We can’t simply relax with ourselves.PinDo I prefer to grow up and relate to life directly, or do I choose to live and die in fear?PinWe can make ourselves miserable or we can make ourselves strong. The amount of effort is the same.
“Death and hopelessness provide proper motivation — proper motivation for living an insightful, compassionate life. But most of the time, warding off death is our biggest motivation.”
“To the degree that we have compassion for ourselves, we will also have compassion for others. Having compassion starts and ends with having compassion for all those unwanted parts of ourselves, all those imperfections that we don’t even want to look at.”
Pema Chödrön
PinCompassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It’s a relationship between equals. PinOnly when we know our own darkness well can we be present with the darkness of others.PinCompassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity.PinWe 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.PinThe idea of karma is that you continually get the teachings that you need to open your heart.
“Now is the only time. How we relate to it creates the future. In other words, if we’re going to be more cheerful in the future, it’s because of our aspiration and exertion to be cheerful in the present.”
Pema Chödrön
PinWhat we do accumulates; the future is the result of what we do right now.PinWe don’t sit in meditation to become good meditators. We sit in meditation so that we’ll be more awake in our lives.PinIn 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.PinHow 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.PinIf we find ourselves unworkable and give up on ourselves, then we’ll find others unworkable and give up on them. What we hate in ourselves, we’ll hate in others.PinWe think that by protecting ourselves from suffering we are being kind to ourselves. The truth is, we only become more fearful, more hardened, and more alienated.PinTimes are difficult globally; awakening is no longer a luxury or an ideal. It’s becoming critical. PinNothing will ever change through aggression.PinWe don’t need to add more depression, more discouragement, or more anger to what’s already here.PinIt’s never too late or too early to practice loving-kindness.PinWhen we become more insightful and compassionate about how we ourselves get hooked, we spontaneously feel more tenderness for the human race. PinAll 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.PinLetting there be room for not knowing is the most important thing of all.PinWhen we want to complain about the rain, we could feel its wetness instead.PinEverything that ends is also the beginning of something new. Pain is not a punishment, pleasure is not a reward.PinBeing able to appreciate, being able to look closely, being able to open our minds—this is the core of maitri [loving-kindness].
“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
Pema Chödrön Short Biography
Born on 14 July 1936 in New York, New York, United States, Pema Chödrön (born Deirdre Blomfield-Brown) is a Tibetan Buddhist, author, and ordained nun.
Chödrön was a student at Sarah Lawrence College, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in English literature. Chödrön also obtained her master’s in education at the University of California.
In 1974, Chödrön became a novice Buddhist nun in London. Seven years later, she became the first American to be a fully ordained nun in the Vajrayana tradition.
Overcoming depression and suicidal thoughts, Jeremiah Say found solace in quotes. After filling countless pages with resonating words, he moved his collection online to save trees and inspire others. Thus, GraciousQuotes.com was born. Jeremiah firmly believes in the power of quotes to swiftly spark inspiration during hard times. His blog is dedicated to uplifting others through these shared wisdoms. Discover more about Gracious Quotes or get in touch with Jeremiah.