Quote

Being preoccupied with our self-image is like being deaf and blind. It's like standing in the middle of a vast field of wildflowers with a black hood over our heads. It's like coming upon a tree of singing birds while wearing earplugs.

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
Coming
Vast
Tree
Field
Earplugs
Middle
Image
Preoccupied
Upon
Bird
Hood
Black
Blind
Deaf
Self
Fields
Heads
Like
Standing
Birds
Singing
Wearing

More quotes by Pema Chodron

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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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Sticking with that uncertainty, getting the knack of relaxing in the midst of chaos, learning not to panic-this is the spiritual path.
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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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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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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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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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Resisting what is happening is a major cause of suffering.
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Every small problem most likely stems from the same root as large problems, and so there is no need to always go deep. One can use anything for the therapeutic process and/if this link is made.
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We sow the seeds of our future hells or happiness by the way we open or close our minds right now.
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As Buddhism moved to the West, one of the big characteristics was the strong place of women. That didn't exist in the countries of origin. It's just a sign of our culture.
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Unconditional good heart toward others is not even a possibility unless we attend to our own demons.
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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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It is only when we begin to relax with ourselves that meditation becomes a transformative process. Only when we relate with ourselves without moralizing, without harshness, without deception, can we let go of harmful patterns. Without maitri (metta), renunciation of old habits becomes abusive. This is an important point.
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Most of us do not take these situations as teachings. We automatically hate them. We run like crazy. We use all kinds of ways to escape - all addictions stem from this moment when we meet our edge and we just can't stand it. We feel we have to soften it, pad it with something, and we become addicted to whatever it is that seems to ease the pain.
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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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Never underestimate the desire to bolt.
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What you do for yourself, any gesture of kindness, any gesture of gentleness, any gesture of honesty and clear seeing toward yourself, will affect how you experience your world. In fact, it will transform how you experience the world. 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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The real thing that we renounce is the tenacious hope that we could be saved from being who we are.
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Use your life to wake you up.
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