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My experience with forgiveness is that it sort of comes spontaneously at a certain point and to try to force it it's not really forgiveness. It's Buddhist philosophy or something spiritual jargon that you're trying to live up to but you're just using it against yourself as a reason why you're not okay.

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
Certain
Okay
Reason
Philosophy
Live
Sort
Trying
Point
Jargon
Something
Spiritual
Spontaneously
Really
Force
Buddhist
Comes
Forgiveness
Experience
Using

More quotes by Pema Chodron

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Use what seems like poison as medicine. Use your personal suffering as the path to compassion for all beings.
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If you work with your mind, instead of trying to change everything on the outside, that's how your temper will cool down.
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we come to realize that other people's welfare is just as important as our own. In helping them, we help ourselves. In helping ourselves, we help the world.
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There are many changes in the weather of a day.
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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.
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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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As for our inner level of obstacle, perhaps the only enemy we have is that we don't like the way reality is now and therefore wish it would go away fast. But what we need to acknowledge is that nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know.
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Inner # peace begins the moment you choose not to allow another person or event to control your # emotions
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Use your life to wake you up.
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All you need to know is that the future is wide open and you are about to create it by what you do.
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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.
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When things are shaky and nothing is working, we might realize that we are on the verge of something. We might realize that this is a very vulnerable and tender place, and that tenderness can go either way. We can shut down and feel resentful or we can touch in on that throbbing quality. (9)
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Compassion practice is daring. It involves learning to relax and allowing ourselves to move gently toward what scares us.
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That nothing is static or fixed, that all is fleeting and impermanent, is the first mark of existence. Everything is in process.
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It's important to remember, when we're out there aggressively working for reform, that, even if our particular issue doesn't get resolved, we are adding peace to the world. We have to do our best and at the same time give up all hope of fruition.
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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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Resisting what is happening is a major cause of suffering.
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Impermanence is a principle of harmony. When we don't struggle against it, we are in harmony with reality.
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What you do for yourself, you're doing for others, and what you do for others, you're doing for yourself.
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Sticking with uncertainty is how we learn to relax in the midst of chaos, how we learn to be cool when the ground beneath us suddenly disappears. We can bring ourselves back to the spiritual path countless times every day simply by exercising our willingness to rest in the uncertainty of the present moment—over and over again.
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