Quote

When we struggle to change ourselves we, in fact, only continue the patterns of self-judgement and aggression. We keep the war against ourselves alive.

Jack Kornfield

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Jack Kornfield
Age: 79
Born: 1945
Born: July 16
Author
Psychologist
Writer
the United States of America
Alive
Fact
War
Facts
Aggression
Keep
Judgement
Change
Patterns
Self
Continue
Struggle

More quotes by Jack Kornfield

Image
When we come into the present, we begin to feel the life around us again, but we also encounter whatever we have been avoiding. We must have the courage to face whatever is present - our pain, our desires, our grief, our loss, our secret hopes our love - everything that moves us most deeply.
Jack Kornfield
Image
We have only now, only this single eternal moment opening and unfolding before us, day and night.
Jack Kornfield
Image
Yet I knew that spiritual practice is impossible without great dedication, energy, and commitment.
Jack Kornfield
Image
Weigh the true advantages of forgiveness and resentment to the heart. Then choose.
Jack Kornfield
Image
Most people discover that when hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with their own pain.
Jack Kornfield
Image
When we take time to quiet ourselves, we can all sense that our life could be lived with greater compassion and greater weakness.
Jack Kornfield
Image
Love creates a communion with life. Love expands us, connects us, sweetens us, ennobles us. Love springs up in tender concern, it blossoms into caring action. It makes beauty out of all we touch. In any moment we can step beyond our small self and embrace each other as beloved parts of a whole.
Jack Kornfield
Image
We can struggle with what is. We can judge and blame others or ourselves. Or we can accept what cannot be changed. Peace comes from an honorable and open heart accepting what is true. Do we want to remain stuck? Or to release the fearful sense of self and rest kindly where we are?
Jack Kornfield
Image
When we let go of yearning for the future, preoccupation with the past, and strategies to protect the present, there is nowhere left to go but where we are. To connect with the present moment is to begin to appreciate the beauty of true simplicity.
Jack Kornfield
Image
What would we have to hold in compassion to be at peace right now? What would we have to let go of to be at peace right now?
Jack Kornfield
Image
How well we have learned to let go
Jack Kornfield
Image
Indifference pretends to create peace, but it is based on not caring, a silent resignation. It is a movement away, a separation fed by a subtle fear of the heart. We pull back, believing that what happens to others is not our concern. Our courage leaves us. Indifference is a misguided way of defending ourselves.
Jack Kornfield
Image
Where we tended to be judgmental, we became more judgmental of ourselves in our spiritual practice.
Jack Kornfield
Image
Whenever we forgive, in small ways at home, or in great ways between nations, we free ourselves from the past.
Jack Kornfield
Image
The emotional wisdom of the heart is simple. When we accept our human feelings, a remarkable transformation occurs. Tenderness and wisdom arise naturally and spontaneously. Where we once sought strength over others, now our strength becomes our own where we once sought to defend ourselves, we laugh.
Jack Kornfield
Image
It is possible to speak with our heart directly. Most ancient cultures know this. We can actually converse with our heart as if it were a good friend. In modern life we have become so busy with our daily affairs and thoughts that we have lost this essential art of taking time to converse with our heart.
Jack Kornfield
Image
Whatever you believe cosmologically, we all know the tears of the world. We each carry a certain measure of those tears in our hearts.
Jack Kornfield
Image
The willingness to empty ourselves and then seek our true nature is an expression of great and courageous love.
Jack Kornfield
Image
Our ideas of self are created by identification. The less we cling to ideas of self, the freer and happier we will be.
Jack Kornfield
Image
The grief we carry is part of the grief of the world. Hold it gently. Let it be honored. You do not have to keep it in anymore. You can let go into the heart of compassion you can weep.
Jack Kornfield