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It isn't the things that are happening to us that cause us to suffer, it's what we say to ourselves about the things that are happening. The truth you believe and cling to makes you unavailable to hear anything new.

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
Believe
Happening
Things
Cause
Hear
Causes
Suffering
Unavailable
Makes
Cling
Truth
Suffer
Anything
Happenings

More quotes by Pema Chodron

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Things are as bad and as good as they seem. There's no need to add anything extra.
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Never give up on yourself. Then you will never give up on others.
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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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If there's any possibility for enlightenment, it's right now, not at some future time. Now is the time.
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Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know. Even if we run a hundred miles an hour to the other side of the continent, we find the very same problem awaiting us when we arrive.
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Knowing pain is a very important ingredient of being there for another person.
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As our kindness for ourselves grows, so does our kindness for other people.
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At some point, we realize that what we do for ourselves benefits others, and what we do for others benefits us.
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Our neurosis and our wisdom are made out of the same material. If you throw out your neurosis, you also throw out your wisdom.
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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 a transformative experience to simply pause instead of immediately fill up the space. By waiting, we begin to connect with fundamental restlessness as well as fundamental spaciousness. -Pema Chodron, from When Things Fall Apart
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Patience is the training in abiding with the restlessness of our energy and letting things evolve at their own speed.
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Our patterns are well established, seductive, and comforting. Just wanting for them to be ventilated isn't enough. Those of us who struggle with this know.
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When we resist change, it’s called suffering. But when we can completely let go and not struggle against it, when we can embrace the groundlessness of our situation and relax into it’s dynamic quality, that’s called enlightenment
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Just where you are-that's the place to start!
Pema Chodron
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When you have made good friends with yourself, your situation will be more friendly too.
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The only reason we don't open our hearts and minds to other people is that they trigger confusion in us that we don't feel brave enough or sane enough to deal with. To the degree that we look clearly and compassionately at ourselves, we feel confident and fearless about looking into someone else's eyes.
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All situations teach you, and often it's the tough ones that teach you best.
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The approach is that the best way to use unwanted circumstances on the path of enlightenment is not to resist but to lean into them.
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The essence of bravery is being without self-deception.
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