Authors / Writers

48 Tara Brach Quotes (RADICAL COMPASSION)

Top 7 Most Famous Tara Brach Quotes on Life and Self-acceptance

“Perhaps the biggest tragedy of our lives is that freedom is possible, yet we can pass our years trapped in the same old patterns…We may want to love other people without holding back, to feel authentic, to breathe in the beauty around us, to dance and sing. Yet each day we listen to inner voices that keep our life small.”

Tara Brach
Each time you meet an old emotional pattern with presence, your awakening to truth can deepen.Pin
Each time you meet an old emotional pattern with presence, your awakening to truth can deepen.

“If our hearts are ready for anything, we can open to our inevitable losses, and to the depths of our sorrow. We can grieve our lost loves, our lost youth, our lost health, our lost capacities. This is part of our humanness, part of the expression of our love for life.”

Tara Brach
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Mindfulness is a pause – the space between stimulus and response: that’s where choice lies.

“Sorrow and joy are woven inextricably together. When we distract ourselves from the reality of loss, we also distract ourselves from the beauty, creativity, and mystery of this ever-changing world.” 

Tara Brach
There is so much division in this world. So what is really the path of healing? It can begin in this moment, by embracing the life that's here.Pin
There is so much division in this world. So what is really the path of healing? It can begin in this moment, by embracing the life that’s here.

“Pain is not wrong. Reacting to pain as wrong initiates the trance of unworthiness. The moment we believe something is wrong, our world shrinks and we lose ourselves in the effort to combat the pain.”

Tara Brach

41 of the Best Inspirational Tara Brach Quotes on Fear and Compassion

Developing an inner refuge where we feel loved and safe enables us to reduce the intensity of traumatic fear when it arises. Pin
Developing an inner refuge where we feel loved and safe enables us to reduce the intensity of traumatic fear when it arises. 
Imperfection is not our personal problem - it is a natural part of existing.Pin
Imperfection is not our personal problem – it is a natural part of existing.
The boundary to what we can accept is the boundary to our freedom.Pin
The boundary to what we can accept is the boundary to our freedom.

Compassion can be described as letting ourselves be touched by the vulnerability and suffering that is within ourselves and all beings. The full flowering of compassion also includes action: Not only do we attune to the presence of suffering, we respond to it.”

Tara Brach
The ultimate purpose of inquiry is that it allows us to pause. In the space of a pause, truth can shine through.Pin
The ultimate purpose of inquiry is that it allows us to pause. In the space of a pause, truth can shine through.
The renowned seventh-century Zen master Seng-tsan taught that true freedom is being "without anxiety about imperfection.Pin
The renowned seventh-century Zen master Seng-tsan taught that true freedom is being “without anxiety about imperfection.
Suffering is our call to attention, our call to investigate the truth of our beliefs.Pin
Suffering is our call to attention, our call to investigate the truth of our beliefs.

“If our hearts are ready for anything, we will spontaneously reach out when others are hurting. Living in an ethical way can attune us to the pain and needs of others, but when our hearts are open and awake, we care instinctively.”

Tara Brach
The beauty we long for is already here.Pin
The beauty we long for is already here.
When we get lost we need only pause, look at what is true, relax our heart and arrive again.Pin
When we get lost we need only pause, look at what is true, relax our heart and arrive again.
Whenever we reject a part of our being, we are confirming to ourselves our fundamental unworthiness.Pin
Whenever we reject a part of our being, we are confirming to ourselves our fundamental unworthiness.

“True refuge is that which allows us to be at home, at peace, to discover true happiness. The only thing that can give us true refuge is the awareness and love that is intrinsic to who we are. Ultimately, its our own true nature.”

Tara Brach
When we stop to attend and see others as real, we uncover the hidden bond that exists between all beings.Pin
When we stop to attend and see others as real, we uncover the hidden bond that exists between all beings.
Radical Acceptance is the willingness to experience ourselves and our lives as it is.Pin
Radical Acceptance is the willingness to experience ourselves and our lives as it is.
Stopping the endless pursuit of getting somewhere else is the perhaps most beautiful offering we can make to our spirit.Pin
Stopping the endless pursuit of getting somewhere else is the perhaps most beautiful offering we can make to our spirit.

“We wait for things to be different in order to feel okay with life. As long as we keep attaching our happiness to the external events of our lives, which are ever changing, we’ll always be left waiting for it.”

Tara Brach
Approach your meditation practice (and your life) with an earnest yet relaxed heart.Pin
Approach your meditation practice (and your life) with an earnest yet relaxed heart.
As we bring a kind of attention to our own conscious and vulnerable being, we become more alert to how all beings are sentient, how they hurt and want to stay alive.Pin
As we bring a kind of attention to our own conscious and vulnerable being, we become more alert to how all beings are sentient, how they hurt and want to stay alive.
In each moment, what we choose to say and do plants the seed of our future.Pin
In each moment, what we choose to say and do plants the seed of our future.

“Each time you meet an old emotional pattern with presence, your awakening to truth can deepen. There’s less identification with the self in the story and more ability to rest in the awareness that is witnessing what’s happening. You become more able to abide in compassion, to remember and trust your true home. Rather than cycling repetitively through old conditioning, you are actually spiraling toward freedom.”

Tara Brach
Once we have held ourselves with kindness, we can touch others in a vital and healing way.Pin
Once we have held ourselves with kindness, we can touch others in a vital and healing way.
The more present we are, the more we realize we love presence!Pin
The more present we are, the more we realize we love presence!
What would it be like if I could accept life - accept this moment - exactly as it is?Pin
What would it be like if I could accept life – accept this moment – exactly as it is?

“Quite simply, if you’re feeling anxious, angry, a sense of shame, whatever it is, breathe in and agree to touch or feel it. Breathing out, offer space and care to whatever’s there. If there’s blocking to touching it, emphasize the in-breath and stay embodied.”

Tara Brach
By honoring what has passed away, we are free to love the life that is here.Pin
By honoring what has passed away, we are free to love the life that is here.
There is something wonderfully bold and liberating about saying yes to our entire imperfect and messy life.Pin
There is something wonderfully bold and liberating about saying yes to our entire imperfect and messy life.
With an undefended heart, we can fall in love with life over and over every day.Pin
With an undefended heart, we can fall in love with life over and over every day.

“The spiritual path is not a solo endeavor. In fact, the very notion of a self who is trying to free her/ himself is a delusion. We are in it together and the company of spiritual friends helps us realize our interconnectedness.”

Tara Brach
But this revolutionary act of treating ourselves tenderly can begin to undo the aversive messages of a lifetime.Pin
But this revolutionary act of treating ourselves tenderly can begin to undo the aversive messages of a lifetime.
When we trust the goodness in others, we become a mirror to help them trust themselves.Pin
When we trust the goodness in others, we become a mirror to help them trust themselves.
Just as a clear pond reflects the sky, mindfulness allows us to see the truth of our experience.Pin
Just as a clear pond reflects the sky, mindfulness allows us to see the truth of our experience.

“My prayer became ‘May I find peace… May I love this life no matter what.’ I was seeking an inner refuge, an experience of presence and wholeness that could carry me through whatever losses might come.”

Tara Brach
The only way to live is by accepting each minute as an unrepeatable miracle.Pin
The only way to live is by accepting each minute as an unrepeatable miracle.
Often the moment when we most need to pause is exactly when it feels most intolerable to do so.Pin
Often the moment when we most need to pause is exactly when it feels most intolerable to do so.
Imperfection is not our personal problem – it is a natural part of existing.Pin
Imperfection is not our personal problem – it is a natural part of existing.

“Feeling compassion for ourselves in no way releases us from responsibility for our actions. Rather, it releases us from the self-hatred that prevents us from responding to our life with clarity and balance.”

Tara Brach
Yes is an inner practice of acceptance in which we willing allow our thoughts and feelings to arise and pass away.Pin
Yes is an inner practice of acceptance in which we willing allow our thoughts and feelings to arise and pass away.
When we put down ideas of what life should be like, we are free to wholeheartedly say yes to our life as it is.Pin
When we put down ideas of what life should be like, we are free to wholeheartedly say yes to our life as it is.
When we are resisting fear, we are identified with a fearful state.Pin
When we are resisting fear, we are identified with a fearful state.
How you live today is how you live your life.Pin
How you live today is how you live your life.

“The great gift of a spiritual path is coming to trust that you can find a way to true refuge. You realize that you can start right where you are, in the midst of your life, and find peace in any circumstance. Even at those moments when the ground shakes terribly beneath you—when there’s a loss that will alter your life forever—you can still trust that you will find your way home. This is possible because you’ve touched the timeless love and awareness that are intrinsic to who you are.”

Tara Brach
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Tara Brach Short Biography

Born on 17 May 1953, in New Jersey, United States Tara Brach is a psychologist, author, and teacher of meditation.

Brach graduated from Clark University and obtained a double major in psychology and political science. After graduating from college, she practiced and taught yoga at an ashram for ten years. 

While at the ashram, Brach attended a Buddhist Insight Meditation retreat, and here she found a real sense of direction in her life. 

She earned her doctorate for clinical psychology in 1991, and in 1995 joined a three-year teacher training program.

Brach started working as a psychotherapist and a meditation teacher and found success in incorporating both for her clients. 

In 1998 Tara Brach founded the largest non-residential meditation center in the United States, the Insight Meditation Community of Washington.

Brach’s teachings and techniques are found to be so effective that they are taught in schools, corporations, and prisons. 

Her podcast, a guided meditation talk, receives over a million downloads in a month. Click here for Tara Brach’s talks (audio and video)

Tara Brach is also the bestselling author of Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life with the Heart of a Buddha.

Further Reading:

Here are the best Tara Brach quotes so you can be encouraged to find inner peace to help you gain more self-acceptance. 

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