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At the root of all the harm we cause is ignorance.

Pema Chodron

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Pema Chodron
Age: 88
Born: 1936
Born: July 14
Clergyman
Philosopher
Writer
New York City
New York
Deirdre Blomfield-Brow
Causes
Imperfect
Root
Harm
Roots
Ignorance
Cause

More quotes by Pema Chodron

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The future is the result of what we do right now.
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Sitting meditation gives us a way to move closer to our thoughts and emotions and to get in touch with our bodies.
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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 one, that's the journey of the warrior. (68)
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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.
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Let difficulty transform you. And it will. In my experience, we just need help in learning how not to run away.
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Learning how to be kind to ourselves, learning how to respect ourselves, is important. The reason it's important is that, fundamentally, when we look into our own hearts and begin to discover what is confused and what is brilliant, what is bitter and what is sweet, it isn't just ourselves that we're discovering. We're discovering the universe.
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Only to the extent that we expose ourselves over and over to annihilation can that which is indestructible in us be found.
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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.
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Right down there in the thick of things, we discover the love that will not die.
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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.
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By not knowing, not hoping to know and not acting like we know what's happening, we begin to access our inner strength.
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Meditation practice isn't about trying to throw ourselves away and become something better. It's about befriending who we are already.
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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.
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As each breath goes out, let it be the end of that moment and the birth of something new. . .
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Trying to change ourselves doesn't work in the long run because we're resisting our own energy. Self-improvemen t can have temporary results, but lasting transformation occurs only when we honor ourselves as the source of wisdom and compassion.
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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.
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Obstacles are our friends: they teach us where we're stuck.
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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.
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Clarity and decisiveness come from the willingness to slow down, to listen to and look at what’s happening.
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The Process of becoming unstuck requires tremendous bravery, because basically we are completely changing our way of perceiving reality.
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