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Fear is a natural reaction of moving closer to the truth. If we commit ourselves to staying right where we are, then our experience becomes very vivid. Things become very clear when there is nowhere to escape.

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
Fear
Reactions
Experience
Staying
Become
Escape
Truth
Commit
Right
Becomes
Vivid
Things
Clear
Reaction
Natural
Nowhere
Moving
Closer

More quotes by Pema Chodron

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If someone comes along and shoots an arrow into your heart, it's fruitless to stand there and yell at the person. It would be much better to turn your attention to the fact that there's an arrow in your heart.
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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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Somehow, in the process of trying to deny that things are always changing, we lose our sense of the sacredness of life. We tend to forget that we are part of the natural scheme of things.
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This is the tendency of all living things: to avoid pain and to cling to pleasure.
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Patience is not learned in safety.
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It isn't what happens to us that causes us to suffer it's what we say to ourselves about what happens.
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The truth is that good and bad coexist sour and sweet coexist. They aren't really opposed to each other.
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When you begin to touch your heart or let your heart be touched, you begin to discover that it's bottomless.
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It's helpful to remind yourself that meditation is about opening and relaxing with whatever arises, without picking and choosing.
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Life's work is to wake up, to let the things that enter your life wake you up rather than put you to sleep.
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In order to have compassion for others, we have to have compassion for ourselves.
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Even if you don't feel appreciation, just look. Feel what you feel take an interest and be curious.
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Few of us are satisfied with retreating from the world and just working on ourselves. We want our training to manifest and to be of benefit. The bodhisattva-warrior, therefore, makes a vow to wake up not just for himself but for the welfare of all beings.
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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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The second noble truth says that this resistance is the...mechanism of what we call ego, that resisting life causes suffering.
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Usually we think that brave people have no fear. The truth is that they are intimate with fear.
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The essence of generosity is letting go. Pain is always a sign that we are holding on to something - usually ourselves.
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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.
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So war and peace start in the human heart. Whether that heart is open or whether that heart closes has global implications.
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.
Pema Chodron