Quote

Softening what is rigid in our hearts.

Pema Chodron

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Pema Chodron
Age: 88
Born: 1936
Born: July 14
Clergyman
Philosopher
Writer
New York City
New York
Deirdre Blomfield-Brow
Softening
Rigid
Hearts
Heart

More quotes by Pema Chodron

Image
So war and peace start in the human heart. Whether that heart is open or whether that heart closes has global implications.
Pema Chodron
Image
Since death is certain and the time of death is uncertain, what is the most important thing?
Pema Chodron
Image
Lean into the sharp points and fully experience them. The essence of bravery is being without self-deception. Wisdom is inherent in (understanding) emotions.
Pema Chodron
Image
The next step is to learn to communicate with the people that you feel are causing your pain and misery- not to learn how to prove them wrong and yourself right but how to communicate from the heart.
Pema Chodron
Image
it is only to the extent that we are willing to expose ourselves again and again to annihilation that we are able to find that part of ourselves that is indestructible.
Pema Chodron
Image
The truth you believe and cling to makes you unavailable to hear anything new.
Pema Chodron
Image
Resistance to unwanted circumstances has the power to keep those circumstances alive and well for a very long time.
Pema Chodron
Image
What you do for yourself, you're doing for others, and what you do for others, you're doing for yourself.
Pema Chodron
Image
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)
Pema Chodron
Image
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
Image
Peace isn’t an experience free of challenges, free of rough and smooth, it’s an experience that’s expansive enough to include all that arises without feeling threatened.
Pema Chodron
Image
Ordinarily we are swept away by habitual momentum and don't interrupt our patterns slightly. When we feel betrayed or disappointed, does it occur to us to practice?
Pema Chodron
Image
Holding on to anything blocks wisdom.
Pema Chodron
Image
It's hard to know whether to laugh or to cry at the human predicament. Here we are with so much wisdom and tenderness, and—without even knowing it—we cover it over to protect ourselves from insecurity. Although we have the potential to experience the freedom of a butterfly, we mysteriously prefer the small and fearful cocoon of ego.
Pema Chodron
Image
The Process of becoming unstuck requires tremendous bravery, because basically we are completely changing our way of perceiving reality.
Pema Chodron
Image
Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know.
Pema Chodron
Image
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
Image
Compassionate action starts with seeing yourself when you start to make yourself right and when you start to make yourself wrong. At that point you could just contemplate the fact that there is a larger alternative to either of those, a more tender, shaky kind of place where you could live.
Pema Chodron
Image
Clarity and decisiveness come from the willingness to slow down, to listen to and look at what’s happening.
Pema Chodron
Image
By not knowing, not hoping to know and not acting like we know what's happening, we begin to access our inner strength.
Pema Chodron